How Quaint
by SaltyJak
Summary: Timmy Turner was not the type to follow old traditions. They were old and forgotten, and many of them were better off staying that way. Still... He did occasionally make a few exceptions, if only because he was kind of a cliched romantic at heart...
1. No, the Other One

A normal Saturday morning. The brunet-haired teenager, known by his friends as Timmy, dozed quietly in his bed. The sixteen year-old was currently somewhere between being awake, and falling right back into the waiting arms of unconsciousness, after having turned off his alarm clock, the device having woken him up a few minutes earlier, which in itself was due to the teen forgetting to turn it off the night before.

As disheveled and uncomfortably sprawled out on his bed as he looked, Timmy was actually quite content. The air coming in through his open window was just the right temperature to be perfect for sleeping in. He sighed contentedly, happy that he had two whole days of no school to enjoy and relax, since finals had just ended.

 _Bbbrring!_

Of course, this would be a pretty boring story if we just examined Timmy's sleeping habits, so the teen's phone began to ring loudly, scaring him into jumping up from lying on his back, turning over in midair onto his stomach, and unceremoniously flipping himself out of bed, faceplanting onto his(thankfully carpeted) bedroom floor.

"Son of a-" The brunet spoke in a muffled tone, his mouth pressing into the dark blue carpet. "Ugh..." He stood up, nearly tipping right back over, and braced himself against his bedside table, then grabbed his phone and answered it. "What's-" The teen yawned loudly. "What's up, Toots?"

A loud sighing noise came from the other end of the phone, and the brunet imagined his best friend facepalming. "Have I told you how much I _hate_ that nickname?"

Timmy chuckled quietly at his friend's deadpanning tone. "Not since yesterday." He ran his hand through his hair, frowning at the dried, slightly greasy sweat that came off on his fingers. "So... What'd you want again? I tend to sleep in on Saturdays, and you calling is really putting a damper on my plans."

"You forgot, didn't you?" This time, Tootie really did facepalm, annoyed at how ditzy and forgetful her 'best friend' could be.

"What?! Of course not! You think I forgot?! This is important! I'd _never_ forget something as important as... Uh... What you're talking about! You know me better than that Toots..." Timmy responded in a mockingly offended tone, playing along with her, and how cryptic she was being.

"S-stop calling me Toots!" The raven-haired girl blushed and yelled as she stared directly at her phone, giving one the impression that she was mad at the device itself, rather than the cheeky brunet on the other end of the line. "...You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you-"

"Nope!" Timmy smiled as he interrupted her.

"You're impossible... And wipe that shit-eating grin, I-What? Oh... Sorry, Mom... Just Timmy being an ass again... Alright... Um... My mom says 'Hi'." Tootie remarked, clearly a little confused at how quickly her mother dropped being mad at her daughter for swearing, over saying 'Hi' to Timmy.

"Oh, well tell her 'Hi', back." The brunet responded nonchalantly as he opened his dresser to pick out some fresh clothes. The teen figured he was pretty much awake now, so there'd be little point in trying to go back to sleep.

"O-okay... Um... Mom? Timmy says 'Hi'... What? No, we're not- He's just a friend... I- Ugh! You're doing it again! Stop messing with my head!"

Timmy rolled his eyes as Tootie seemingly forgot that she was talking to him. "Tootie?"

"Wha?! But you're married! Why would you- Oh. Oh, _very_ funny. Dad put you up to this, didn't he? Ugh... You two... And to think I used to wonder why Vicki's as evil as she is..."

"Tootie." Timmy spoke a little more forcefully now. "Not that I don't enjoy talking to you, but are you ever gonna get around to telling me _why_ you woke me up on a Saturday?"

"What? Oh, that. Right... How did you forget?! This was your plan in the first place! You were gonna come over, remember?" Tootie spoke exasperatedly now, having grown completely fed up with the brunet.

" _My plan? What plan...? Oh! Now I-"_ "Shit Tootie, why didn't you just say so? I'm gonna go shower now, should be over in... Fifteen, twenty minutes, tops." Timmy moved the phone away from his ear...

"Wait!" Tootie suddenly exclaimed, making the teen pause, look at his phone, then raise it back next to his ear. "So... You're _about_ to take a shower...?"

"Yeah, that's what people tend to do when they go somewhere... Assuming they have running water. Why?" The buck-toothed teen felt a little uneasy now. Was she gonna-

"Take pictures!" Tootie half-spoke, half-squeed at him.

"Pictures?" Timmy deadpanned. "Y'know Toots, I think you got the roles reversed somewhere, _I'm_ supposed to be the pervert, not you... Y'know, cuz you're the girl?"

"A girl can't be perverted?" The female teen spoke in an amused tone.

"Well I... I didn't-"

"'Least I'm consistent. And don't call me _the_ girl. We're not dating. I'm _a_ girl. One who happens to want pictures of her best friend naked. Nothing wrong with that." Tootie shrugged indifferently.

"Actually, there are-" Timmy was cut off by a dial tone, indicating Tootie had hung up on him. "Several things wrong with that..." He shook his head as he placed his cell phone back down on the bedside table. "She got me there though, definitely consistent." The brunet sighed as he gathered up the rest of his change of clothes, along with a towel, and exited his room to cross the hall to the bathroom.

He and Tootie were... Alright. They got along pretty well, now that they were in high school, and her crush on him had fallen by the wayside. Well... For the most part. She'd occasionally hang all over him when it was just the two of them, and the flirting, while playful and light-hearted, had increased by a large amount. Yet through it all, Timmy was by and large unaffected by it. They both knew that it wouldn't lead to anything(well, he knew for sure; Tootie? ...Jury's still out on that one), but she'd recently told him she'd set her eyes on their blond-haired friend, Chester, which made Timmy _really_ not care about how affectionate she was. Weird as it may seem, the brunet opted to enjoy her affectionate gestures, knowing he'd be without them soon enough.

He remembered that, during one of his more recent visits, Tootie's mother, Nicki, had said that her daughter and he were: 'More than friends, but not quite lovers'. And that description suited him and Tootie just fine.

Timmy, realizing he'd been reminiscing a little too long, shut the bathroom door behind him and stepped over to the tub, turning on the shower and sighing in relief when he realized there was still hot water. His parents tended to use the shower as soon as they got up; his mother, followed immediately after by his father. Rarely was there any hot water left for him.

 _Several minutes later!_

The brunet stepped out of the bathroom, a huge steam cloud billowing out around him, and making the teen mentally wish he could release a flock of white doves everytime he entered or exited a room into another one. That'd be more interesting than steam. He returned to his room, tossing his sleeping clothes into his laundry basket, then grabbed his phone and made his way back out into the hall and downstairs into the living room. "Mom? Dad? Anybody home?"

"In here Honey!" His mother called from the kitchen.

" _They're actually_ here _?"_ Timmy thought in disbelief. His original plan had been to check if they were around, and leave when he knew(or thought he knew) they weren't. The brunet opened the door to the kitchen, finding his dad sipping his usual morning coffee, and his mother cooking scrambled eggs. "Um... Hi?"

"Morning Sweetie!" Mrs. Turner waved at her son, keeping her gaze focused on her cooking. "What are you doing up so early? You're usually still asleep by the time we leave on Saturdays."

"Early?" The brunet looked at his phone again, realizing it was only a little after eight in the morning. "Huh... Uh, Tootie called me. We were gonna hang out today."

"Tootie..." His mother dumped the scrambled eggs onto a couple plates, one for herself, the other for her husband, then set about buttering the pan so she could make some for Timmy as well. "Oh! Vicki's sister! Now I remember!"

" _Small wonder..."_ Timmy rolled his eyes again.

"Just the two of you?" Mrs. Turner looked over her shoulder at Timmy slyly. "Not hanging out with Chesty and Ajax?"

" _Chesty and Ajax...? Who?!"_ "Um... You mean Chester and AJ?" Timmy asked, genuinely believing his mother couldn't possibly be _that_ dense and inattentive.

"Oh yes! Them! Don't you and Tootie usually hang out with them on the weekends?" His mother returned to her cooking, clearly only half-interested in what her son had to say.

"Yeah... Usually, but I'm just going over to Tootie's house today. We're probably gonna play some video games, maybe go out to eat, I dunno." The brunet shrugged, not wanting his parents to pick up on what they more than likely already _thought_ they knew.

"You know Timmy..." His father spoke up as he finished the last of his morning coffee, joining the conversation at last. "That friend of yours is related to Vicki..."

Timmy stared at his father expectantly, thinking that he had more to say, but when the older male did little but return the stare, the teen decided to speak. "Okay, and..?"

"Well..." His mother began hesitantly as she dumped the eggs she'd been cooking onto a plate for Timmy. "You and her hang out together a lot... And you _are_ at that age where boys tend to start chasing after girls..."

"And your mother and I have been thinking that, as a teenage male who's swimming in his own hormones, maybe you'd want to... Try for a relationship with her?" Mr. Turner shifted in his chair uncomfortably, being wholly unprepared for the conversation he and his wife were having with their son.

"I mean, Vicki's always been _very_ reliable, even offering to keep an eye on things around here after we told her you didn't need a babysitter anymore, so we figured Tootie might have a few things in common with her sister..."

Timmy looked at his mother, who now also seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable with the conversation, yet the teen himself just felt confused. "W-where are we going with this?"

"Well... Your father and I tend to be out a lot, going to the Bahamas, Florida, Tibecuador..."

"Hawaii too!" Mr. Turner interjected excitedly.

"Oh yes! Remember that time we went to the top of the volcano, Honey? _So_ breathtaking..." Mrs. Turner trailed off nostalgically, before remembering she was in front of her son. "F-for business meetings! R-right, Honey?"

"Oh! Um... Yep! Business- Business meetings!" Timmy's father nodded up and down in rapid agreement with his wife.

"Mm-hm! Business meetings! ...Um, anyway... We know that this can be a confusing time for you, with puberty and hormones and... Other things..."

"Ah jeez... Mom, Dad, I appreciate what you're trying to say, but I _really_ don't need to be told about 'The Birds and the Bees'..." The gears in Timmy's head finally began turning, and he realized just what was on his parents' minds. It was almost comical how wholly unprepared his parents were for this conversation, but the hilarity of it was overshadowed by Timmy's own embarrassment. "A-and! T-things aren't like that between me and Tootie! We're just friends! ...Kind of..." Unfortunately, his very obviously red face, brought on by his parents' thinly-veiled assumptions about what their son would do while they were away, did little to validate his claim.

"Oh, you're right Sweetie. I'm sure they teach you everything you need to learn about all that in school these days..." His mother waved her hand in a mildly dismissive manner.

"Actually, I learned most of it from the Internet- ...I mean, yeah. School." The brunet's eyes shifted back and forth in his head nervously, the last thing he needed was to be questioned on his... Extracurricular activities on his computer. "So... You're saying that if I theoretically had a girlfriend... You guys... Wouldn't mind her being here? With me? ...Alone, just the two of us?" The teen was no longer sure if he should see his parents' neglectful ways as such a bad thing.

"Um... Well... We should probably..." Mr. Turner began to sputter and trip over his own words, wondering how he could best escape from this conversation now that it had come to its inevitable conclusion. Thinking quickly, the man gasped and pointed to the window over the kitchen sink. "Timmy! Look at that _thing_ coming through your window! I dunno what it is but...!"

"Wha? My window?" The brunet, still somewhat gullible, even though he was more than halfway through his teen years, quickly turned toward the direction his father pointed, which was enough time for Mr. Turner to grab his wife's wrist, sprint out of the kitchen and then house with said wife in tow, then leap into their car and speed out of the driveway, and out of Dimmsdale.

"See you in a week, Honey!" Mrs. Turner's voice echoed through the city streets and back to the Turner household, accompanied by a trail of fire left by Timmy's parents' sporty car.

"See me in a...? Hey! There's nothing coming through the window!" The brunet looked out the aforementioned window and watched the trail of fire left in his parents' wake fizzle out. A quick look around the kitchen revealed to the teen that his parents had left with such haste that his mother had seemingly forgotten to turn the stove burner off, and his father's coffee mug was somehow still spinning in midair, likely due to the haste with which its owner had fled. "Wait... Dad didn't technically give me an answer... So..." Timmy smirked to himself. For once, it seemed that the universe was playing in his favor...

The brunet-haired teen set about cleaning up the kitchen, helping himself to his parents' forgotten breakfasts, as well as his own, then cleaning up the now scattered newspaper, the plates used for breakfast, and his father's somehow still-levitating coffee mug, then grabbed his keys and made for the exit of the kitchen. "Tootie's probably gonna be furious with me for taking so long... But I still feel like I'm forgetting..." Timmy scanned the kitchen for anything that might've been amiss, his eyes eventually falling on the _still_ -burning stove-top. "Eugh... That'd be embarrassing... 'Oh Timmy, how'd the house burn down? We finally acknowledged that you can be trusted in our absence!'" He rolled his eyes for a third time as he strode over to the stove and turned it off.

With the cleaning up finally done(and his house no longer in danger of burning down), Timmy left his house, shutting and locking the door behind him. His eyes then fell upon his own car... Or rather, the hand-me-down car his father had given him when his parents splurged on the sports car they now frequently took to go to their 'business meetings'. The car itself; an older model station wagon with wood paneling, was by no means 'cool' for someone his age, but it was practical. The teen needed something to get him from point A to point B, and that was exactly what the car did.

And, much to his annoyance, his friends took immediate advantage of him having a car, despite both having their licenses, and(AJ at least) having enough money to get their own cars. "'Course, now that _I've_ got a car to chauffeur those two around, I doubt they'll ever get their own..." Timmy sighed loudly as he got into the station wagon. "Still, they _do_ give me gas money, so it's not too bad..." Timmy started the car, grinning at the fact that, unlike when his dad drove it, the car always started for him on the first try. Though to be fair, the brunet took much better care of it than his father ever had, being that the man wasn't particularly knowledgeable about cars. Or carpentry. Or housework. Or parenting.

He reversed the car out of the driveway, then shifted it back into drive to begin the drive over to Tootie's house, roughly two blocks away. Yes, he could've walked the very short distance, but his car was actually a part of his plan today. "Assuming everything works out..."

 _At Tootie's house..._

Tootie leaned against the wrought-iron railing of her front porch. Her 'guest', if he could still be called as such, was evidently doing his utmost to try her patience today. With a heavy and melodramatic sigh, the raven-haired girl sat down on the top step of her porch and dropped her head into her hands, face-first. To be fair, this whole situation _was_ her fault, since she couldn't just have the courage to ask Chester if he wanted to hang out sometime. No, she had to get her 'best friend' involved, ask Timmy what Chester liked to do, where he might like to go, if she had any chance _at all_ with the blond...

And that cheeky little brunet-haired sneak blackmailed her! ...Kind of. Timmy promised he'd help her with Chester, on the condition that she'd help him with... "I just don't understand him sometimes- Usually." Tootie corrected herself. "I don't know if he's got some back-asswards way of thinking, or if he's just doing this as some kind of... Polite formality, or... Or if he thinks this has got a chance of working in the first pla-" The girl took pause as Timmy's old, beaten-up hand-me-down station wagon pulled into her house's driveway. "Took you long enough! Make a stop at the Dimmadome on the way here or something?"

"It's like being married..." Timmy muttered to himself as he got out of his car. "We still good to go?"

"Barely. I'm holding your dumb ass to our agreement, hope you know." Tootie crossed her arms over her chest and put on her best pouty face.

"See? I don't even know why you need my help, you put on that cute face and it'll be love at first sight for Chester." The brunet shrugged with a smug grin on his face.

Tootie; still pouting, felt her face heat up, mentally cursing the fact that Timmy still knew all the right buttons of hers to press. "Ten dollars says that confidence is gonna disappear once we get inside."

"That's hardly even a bet, but, deal." Timmy pulled out his wallet, then took a ten out of it, handing it to Tootie.

"Wha? You're just giving up?" The raven-haired girl looked at the money in her hand incredulously. "Where's the Timmy I used to know that stayed determined until the end?"

"Well..." The brunet ran his hand through his hair, happy that it was clean and sweat-free. "This is different. Truthfully? I'm already pretty nervous... And where's my hug?" Timmy's tone went from somber to mockingly offended in an instant. "Thought greeting hugs were mandatory, stated by... Oh! You." He pushed his luck now, lightly poking Tootie's nose.

"A hug?" She deadpanned at him with a flat expression. "You're lucky I didn't greet you with a knee to the crotch. You definitely deserve that more than a hug for making me stall my parents."

The brunet stared at Tootie for several seconds, then mimicked her pose, crossing his arms over his chest, but keeping the smug expression.

"I'm not hugging you." Tootie spoke adamantly.

Timmy's response was to quirk an eyebrow up at the girl in front of him. "I got all day, Toots." He didn't, but if today didn't work out, he'd just have Tootie stall her parents on a different day.

"You're a jerk." The raven-haired girl sighed in defeat as she stepped over to Timmy and looped her arms around him, yet quickly pulled away before the male teen could return the hug. "Greeting hugs are over from this day forward."

"Breaking my heart here..." Timmy remarked sarcastically as Tootie opened her front door, bidding that he follow her into the house.

"Oh!" Tootie suddenly stopped in the middle of the living room and spun around to face the brunet, nearly causing him to crash into her. "You-know-who is still sleeping, so try and keep your voice down, 'kay?" Tootie nodded her head towards the stairs.

"Tootie, this isn't my first time here, relax. I'm just gonna talk to your dad real quick, then I'll split. Nice and simple." The brunet patted his friend's shoulders reassuringly.

"Right, because I'm _sure_ that things are gonna be 'nice and simple' just because you said so."

The male teen looked at his friend seriously. "You know something, Toots? There's bossy, which can be sexy, then there's bitch-"

"Oh, Timmy! When did you get here?"

Timmy looked up at Mrs. Nicole Valentine, 'Nicki' to most people, and the mother of Tootie and Vicki Valentine. Physically, the woman looked like a near-carbon copy of his best friend, aged about... Fifteen years. Though he was sure she was older than that. Aside from their clothes and age, the only real difference between Nicki and Tootie was the older woman's striking pink eyes, a trait that only one of her daughters had inherited. "Just now, I know you and Tootie's dad are probably getting ready to leave, but I wanted to stop by and ask him something real quick... Er... If that's alright?"

"Hm? Sure, I don't see why not... It's not anything serious, right?" Nicki looked at the boy curiously, seeing that his hands still rested on her daughter's shoulders.

"Not... Um... Not life-threateningly serious... Just kinda serious?" Timmy frowned as he heard his voice crack, making him sound ten again.

"Well, he's still here; did... Tootie put you up to this? Kind of... Stalled us so you'd get a chance to talk to my husband?"

" _Not much point in hiding it now..."_ "Um... Yes, but she didn't put me up to it so much as she helped me plan it out." Timmy felt a light wave of heat wash over him, causing him to begin sweating slightly.

"Alright, well... If the two of you had to go to such lengths... I guess it must be pretty important." Nicki shrugged and turned to head back into the kitchen, she _was_ interested in Timmy's presence at her house, but figuring she'd hear whatever it was that he had to say, either from the brunet himself, or her husband once they talked.

Timmy waited until the older woman was out of earshot before turning his attention back to Tootie. "A-anything I should know about your dad? He's... Not a convict, or anything like that, right?"

It was Tootie's turn to raise an eyebrow at her friend, being genuinely surprised at how quickly he'd gone from being her confident, snarky best friend to a nervous little kid again. And she was going to have fun with that... just a bit. "Heheh... Where do you think Vicki gets her mean streak from? You _know_ it ain't mom, so... Care to find out?" With an evil smirk, Tootie spun around to face the door to the kitchen and went in, leaving Timmy alone in the living room.

The brunet watched his friend leave, and groaned. He was almost tempted to forget the whole thing and just go home, his confidence was already feeling like it was dwindling, and the idea that Mr. Valentine might just laugh at the question he was minutes away from posing to the man... It certainly didn't help the teen's confidence...

Shrugging his shoulders, Timmy opted to follow Tootie into the kitchen and test his luck. _"Already come this far, might as well see this through as far as it'll go..."_ The first thing the brunet saw as he entered the kitchen was Tootie, desperately trying to reach for one of the cabinets that was out of her short reach. "You want some-"

"I can do it, you've got more important things to worry about." The raven-haired girl glared at him, likely knowing that, if she _had_ asked for his help, he would've subjected her to a bit of(admittedly playful) teasing about her height.

"Whatever you say, Tootie." Stifling a giggle at the girl as she hopped up onto the counter, Timmy directed his gaze over to the kitchen table, at which sat Tootie's parents. "Excuse me... Uh... Mister Valentine? If you're... Not too busy, could I talk to you about something?" The brunet noticed his shaking hands, and jammed them into his pockets in an effort to calm them down. He'd never met Vicki and Tootie's dad before; the man usually left before his wife did, and so Timmy wasn't quite sure what to expect when the man lowered the morning newspaper away from his face. Suffice to say, he certainly didn't expect a red-headed man with a lean build similar to his oldest daughter.

"Hm? You're Timmy, I presume? Tootie and Nicki have told me a bit about you, it's nice to finally meet the boy who's been charming my wife and daughter." The man smiled jokingly at Timmy, immediately putting the teen more at ease. "Anyway, sure. We'll talk in the living room, away from the women-folk."

"Uh... O-okay?" Timmy was well beyond confused now. He'd always assumed that, seeing as how Nicki was one of the nicest women he'd ever met, Vicki must've been able to owe her more abrasive nature to her father, yet this simply couldn't be the case. Mr. Valentine was nearly as amicable as his wife, _and_ he joked around with Timmy like they were already friends!

The brunet followed the red-haired man back into the living room, sitting down on the couch as Tootie and Vicki's father sat on a similar, yet smaller couch situated across from the one Timmy now occupied. "Alright Tim, what did you-"

"His name is Timmy, Dad." Tootie interrupted Mr. Valentine as she came into the living room, then sat down next to Timmy on the couch and grabbed the remote with her left hand to turn on the TV, while she held a small box of cloyingly sweet-smelling cookies in her right.

"Alright, alright. Timmy." Mr. Valentine put his hands up in defense. "So, what's eating you, Timmy? You've got a look on your face that says you want... No, I'd say _need_ to get something off your chest. Everything good between you and my little angel?" The red-headed man smiled at Tootie.

"Dad!" The raven-haired girl's face pinkened as she looked away and jammed a cookie into her mouth. "Jeez... Albays ebara-ing me..."

The brunet struggled to keep a straight face at the antics between his best friend and her father, but quickly remembered why he had come to their house in the first place and focused his gaze on Tootie's dad, doing his best to attain, maintain, and not break eye contact with the man. "Um... Where to start..." Timmy twiddled his thumbs in his lap nervously. "I'm- Uh... Not really sure how to ask this, so I'll just... Ahem... M-Mister Valentine, I would like to..."

 _Thud_

A light weight fell into Timmy's lap, making the brunet look down to find Tootie's head resting on his legs, her gaze aimed up at him. The raven-haired girl brought one of the cookies she'd been eating up to her mouth, but stopped short as she felt her best friend's and father's eyes watching her. "Hm? Oh, no, you guys continue. I just needed a more comfortable position to watch TV, and you make a great pillow." Tootie winked at Timmy before letting her eyes drift back to the television set as she bit into the cookie.

"Tootie... You're not helping..." Timmy whined out as the girl ignored him, opting instead to try and find the most comfortable position to lay her head on in his lap. As if the girl's occasional wiggling wasn't distracting enough, her breath, now smelling exactly like the overly sweet cookies she was eating, kept wafting into his face. He wanted to lift her head off his lap and move her over so he could focus... But even as scrawny and nonthreatening as Tootie's father looked, Timmy would rather avoid getting on the man's bad side, and manhandling his 'little angel' would probably be frowned upon.

"Juss aks him!" Tootie yelled over the cookie she was eating, sending little bits of crumbs up into the air, several of which struck the Timmy's face.

"Ah! Um... R-right... I wanted to ask... A-Ask for your permission to d-date your d-daughter." Timmy released a _very_ relieved-sounding sigh as he finished. The hardest part of the day was over. Now, he just had to hope that Mr. Valentine would give him consent.

"... _That's_ what was so hard to say? Wow..." The red-haired man, who already looked fairly calm and collected, somehow became even more relaxed, leaning back and reclining on the couch. "You had me going for a few seconds there, I thought you might've knocked Tootie up or something..."

The brunet's gaze dropped to his lap upon hearing these words, not necessarily for the purpose of looking at Tootie though, more to hide the obvious reddish tint on his cheeks, a color that matched the one found on the face of the girl whose head remained in his lap. "Grr... Dad!"

Timmy leaned back just in time for Tootie to sit bolt-upright, throw her legs over the side of the couch as she turned toward Mr. Valentine, and whip the box of cookies directly into the poor red-headed male's face, sending his head reeling back. "Ow..."

"And you wonder why I've never introduced you to Timmy!" The raven-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, the blush on her face growing to luminescent levels. "Like I'm dumb enough to get pregnant at sixteen..."

"Augh... Nicki? Honey...? I think..." The man sitting across from Timmy rubbed at his sore nose, fearing it might be broken. "I think I might have a mild concussion..." The male red-head picked the box of cookies up from the cushion next to him and turned it upside-down to poor them into his hand, revealing that all the remaining cookies had been turned to dust from the impact. "Agh... Well son, you got guts, I'll give you that. Both to ask me for something like permission, and to want to date my daughter... Name's Ricky, by the way... Richard, if it's all the same to you."

Timmy looked at Tootie's dad quizzically. "You have the same name as-Mmph?" The teen's sentence was cut off by Tootie's warm hand slapping over his mouth.

"Yeah, as _that_ guy. My advice? Don't mention that name when _she's_ around, you'll live longer that way." The girl winked at Timmy as she pulled her hand away.

"But... I gotta ask Tim- Er... Timmy, you and Tootie already seem to be together, and you get along so well... Why ask me for permission if you two are already going steady?" Richard looked at the two teens in confusion.

"What? I- Oh... Um... No, Tootie and I, we're just friends- Well, best friends, easily... You thought I was..." Timmy facepalmed, realizing his mistake. "Er... Sorry. Tootie's awesome, and she'd be a great catch for a very lucky guy, but..."

The raven-haired girl to the brunet's left rolled her eyes, seeing that Timmy was likely going to keep her and her father there until Easter at the rate they were going with the conversation. "Dad? Timmy's not talking about me, he means... The other one."

As if on cue, a thunderous bang echoed through the house, followed by shuffling footsteps that traveled through the second floor hallway until stopping at the stairs, then began slowly descending them, like their owner had just awoken from hibernation, and hadn't quite managed to re-learn to walk. The first thing the trio in the living room saw was a pair of pale-ish feet, followed by equally pale, long, slender legs, much of them being quite exposed, save for their owner's uppermost thighs and waist, which was covered by a pair of black sleeping shorts that left just enough to the imagination. The figure, now easily identifiable as a woman, also wore a rather disheveled lime green tank-top, one that she more than likely had worn to bed for years. The right shoulder of the shirt had slipped off, revealing the woman's shoulder, pale like the rest of her, though there was a barely-there dusting of freckles on it, and probably the left one too. The brunet's gaze swept over the shirt again after spotting her exposed shoulder, making him realize that his ex-babysitter evidently wasn't fond of wearing a bra to bed. Finally, Timmy's eyes moved further up, coming to rest upon the face of Tootie's older sister. That was pale too, suggesting she didn't go out and sunbathe as often as she did back when she babysat him, though her cheeks remained lightly freckled. Her fiery hair had grown a fair bit longer, though, at the moment, it was heavily disheveled and messy from sleeping, and were it not tied up in a haphazard ponytail, Timmy imagined it would likely reach the small of the woman's back, maybe a little further.

She yawned and stretched as she reached the bottom of the stairs, only having her left eye open as the other remained closed, likely hoping it could go back to sleep soon. "I heard-" The red-haired woman cut herself off with another yawn, this one leaning more towards cute than the obnoxious first one. "Ugh, I heard yelling? Is there some rule forbidding sleeping in around here- Whoa." The pink-eyed woman looked around the room. Her sister, Tootie, was blushing and refusing to look at much of anything, her dad... Had a bloody nose, likely Tootie's doing... Vicki turned her attention to the anomaly in her living room. "Twerp? What... What are you doing here? I walk into an intervention or something?"

Richard was the first to speak, after grabbing a tissue form the coffee table to wipe his hemorrhaging nose, of course. "Ah... Vicki? Mind putting some clothes on? We have a guest..."

Timmy took note of the fact that Vicki's father's cheerful demeanor had almost completely dissipated, he now sounded like someone trying to keep from aggravating a velociraptor, or maybe appease a demigod who was seconds away from destroying him with nary more than a glare.

"You mean the Twerp? This isn't the first time he's been here." The red-head shrugged indifferently. "Besides, this _is_ my house, I can wear whatever I want." Vicki's right eye opened at last, both now focusing on Timmy, eliciting what he hoped would be a friendly wave in her direction. "And he's seen me in less, haven't you Timmy?" A grin worked its way across the woman's face as Timmy's cheeks turned red again.

"I- Well... We have a pool at my house, so..." It was true, though the sixteen year old left out the part about how he had been the one to dig the hole for the pool in the first place. That summer, one would more often than not find the red-head sunbathing by the pool, or swimming in it in her green, string bikini. _"I miss summer."_

"So, what _are_ you doing here so early..." Vicki trailed off as she sniffed the air. "Hold that thought." Vicki sniffed again, her mouth beginning to water at the scent of breakfast.

The trio in the living room watched as their conversation's fourth member and subject of discussion strode out of the room and into the kitchen, leaving Tootie nodding her head back and forth in disapproval at her sister's lack of modesty, the two girls' father scratching his head as his brain tried to wrap itself around and understand the implications of what Timmy had just said, and the aforementioned male teen watching the object of his affection leave with a dumb grin on his face.


	2. First Impressions

"Are you retarded? Or just insane?" Richard Valentine scratched at the red stubble on his chin in confusion.

"Dad!" Tootie exclaimed in shock at her father's rather crude word choice.

"Sorry, sorry." The red-haired man again raised his hands up in front of himself in defense, realizing his poor choice of words for describing this teenager who was apparently his youngest daughter's best friend. "I meant no offense Tim, I-"

" _Timmy_ , dad. His name is _Timmy_." Tootie corrected her father again, this time with an annoyed edge in her voice.

"Right, Timmy." Richard once more scratched his chin in thought. "Sorry, it's just... Hard for me to imagine Vicki attracting the attention of any guy, let alone someone like you." The red-headed male took a few seconds to mull over his own words. "I don't mean that insultingly. You seem like a good kid, from what little I've been told about you from my wife and daughter. But that's exactly why I'm so confused by you liking Vicki... You _do_ realize she's a-" Richard again paused as he looked over his shoulder toward the kitchen, then turned back to Timmy, voice now lowered to a whisper. "A blood-sucking, money-grubbing Hell-demon, right?"

"Um... No disrespect, sir, but I don't think she's _that_ bad." Timmy lowered his voice to an octave similar to that of Tootie's dad, knowing they were both treading on thin ice with Vicki only a room away. "She can be... Abrasive at times, but she's hardly a demon..."

"Pretty sure she doesn't suck blood, either." Tootie added in, her own voice still at a more normal volume.

Richard Valentine now turned his attention to his youngest daughter. "Tootie... Were you in on this plan? You knew that Timmy wanted to ask my permission to date Vicki?" The man looked at Tootie incredulously, not quite believing that this wasn't some elaborate prank.

"Uh-huh. Timmy asked me what day would be best to come over and talk with you about it. So I stalled both you and mom so he could." The raven-haired girl shrugged, clearly not finding the whole situation anywhere near as strange as her father did.

"Did... Did your mother know about this too?" Richard hesitantly asked, worrying that he was the only one left out of the loop.

"Nah, I don't think so, anyway. All mom knew was that I was trying to stall you both, not the reason _why_ I was." Hoping her part in the conversation was finished, Tootie picked the TV remote back up and began channel surfing.

The red-head brought his hand up to his face and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. "I'll never understand teenagers these days... Timmy, do you even _know_ what you like about my... Eldest daughter?"

Upon hearing the question, Timmy blushed and looked away. It was one of the few questions he was wholly unprepared to answer, not because he was embarrassed to admit his reasons for liking the twenty-two year old, but because he didn't currently _have_ any reasons for liking her, not definitive ones, anyway. Part of it was most certainly lust. The red-headed woman was more than just easy on the eyes, she was _gorgeous_! It went far beyond the brunet's attraction to red-heads though. The woman was lean and fit, even though he'd rarely seen her do anything that could be called exercise, her light skin was somehow always blemish-free, save for the lightest dusting of freckles here and there, and those only added to her beauty.

And of course, the brunet had caught himself staring at her chest on more than one occasion. In keeping up with the woman's naturally lean physique, her bust was by no means ample, yet the tight-fitting shirts she usually wore(especially the tank-top she slept in) revealed that Vicki wasn't an ironing board either.

Still... Enjoying the eye candy the woman unknowingly(?) provided was not the same as having an emotional connection with her. As far as Timmy knew, Vicki had absolutely no idea that he liked her, and while he was sure she'd caught him staring at her a few times, the brunet was fairly certain that she didn't take it seriously, likely thinking it was little more than... Art appreciation. "I... Well... It's kinda... Hard to explain. She babysat me for quite a few years, and I'll admit, there were times where I thought she was downright evil..." Timmy watched as Richard seemed to consider his words, then rubbed the back of his head in confusion, clearly wondering if the brunet was ever going to get to the part where he'd list Vicki's redeeming qualities. "B-but! Um... Mean as she could be, every now and again, I'd get a glimpse of... Something else. I can't really explain it, but she has..." The brunet felt his face heat up with another blush. It almost felt wrong to be talking about Vicki like this to her dad, rather than just saying it to her face. "She has a softer side. But it isn't the only thing I like about her. There's something about that temper of hers that I... I'm just drawn towards. And I... I don't want to be left wondering about what I could've had, but was too scared to even attempt to go after. I just want to know if Vicki and I... Can work, so I figured I'd start with you." Timmy paused to catch his breath, he was unused to putting so much feeling and emotion into words like he was. "So, I'll ask again; may I ask for your permission to... Date Vicki?" The brunet finished his sentence in a hopeful tone.

Richard; on the other hand, took the opportunity to lean back into the couch again, releasing a loud sigh as he did. "You've got guts, I'll give you that, Timmy. Even more now than I thought you did a second ago, when you asked me the first time. I wish I could tell you that you have my permission, but it really isn't up to me, it's up to Vicki." The red-head stood up from the couch with a weary-sounding groan. "That being said... You have my blessing to give it a shot." He stepped forward, giving Timmy a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Best of luck to you." He then stepped over to the front door and pulled it open. "Alright, I'm heading out Hon'!"

"'Kay, see you when you get home!" Nicki called from the kitchen.

Whose voice was quickly followed by Tootie's from Timmy's left. "Bye, Dad!"

The brunet watched the man leave, only realizing after he was gone that Vicki's goodbye was strangely absent.

 _Meanwhile..._

"Hey Mom." Vicki spoke with another yawn as she entered the kitchen and cracked her neck, followed by another stretch that brought several crackling and popping sounds with it.

"I thought I heard the sound of a bear waking up from hibernation..." Nicki spoke in an amused tone as she placed a plate of pancakes on the table for her eldest daughter. "Made you breakfast."

"You didn't have to, y'know..." The red-head sat down at the table as she grabbed a large bottle of maple syrup.

"I know I didn't _have_ to. I wanted to, because you're my daughter." The raven-haired older woman stepped over next to Vicki and ruffled her messy bed hair.

Vicki frowned at her mother's affectionate gesture. She was a twenty-two year old woman now! Not some little kid whose hair you could just come over and ruffle! She was almost tempted to lightly swat her mother's hand away, but, in all honesty, she preferred affection over the animosity her and her mother once held between them. Still, this didn't prevent the blush that came over the red-head's face as her mother kissed the top of her head. "Mom..." Vicki whined out childishly.

"I know, you're a grown woman now, but you and Tootie will always be my little girls, so you'll have to put up with my love as long as you live in this house... And still want me to make pancakes for you." Nicki added in deviously, knowing the threat of no pancakes was enough to get Vicki to give up on nearly any argument. "And technically I _did_ have to make you breakfast, else you'd have slept in 'til noon."

Vicki blushed, knowing her mother had her there. "Jeez... You're almost as good as I am when it comes to blackmailing people..." The red-head muttered through a pout.

"Well, you had to get that and those beautiful pink eyes from someone~!" Nicki fluttered her eyelashes at her daughter.

"And now we know who I got my modesty from too!" Vicki teased back, earning her a rather flat look from her mother.

"Keep that up and I'm taking away your pancakes." The raven-haired woman shot Vicki a stern look, one the red-head responded to by picking up her breakfast and holding it in her arms defensively while looking at her mother cautiously. After several seconds of this mock-standoff, Nicki shook her head back and forth and giggled. "How old are you again?"

"Old enough to run for my room if you try to take my breakfast..."

"Sometimes I wonder if I got you and Tootie confused, and _she's_ the older one..." Nicki shrugged her shoulders and turned back toward the stove to begin cleaning up the kitchen.

Seeing that her breakfast was safe for the moment, Vicki placed it back down on the table to resume eating. "So why's Dad still here?"

"Well, Honey, I _am_ married to your father, so..." Vicki's mother spoke in a mocking tone, clearly intending to be stating the obvious.

"Not..." The twenty-two year old sighed as she took another bite of her pancakes. "I mean why hasn't he left for work yet? He's usually gone by the time I wake up."

"Well... I'm not really sure. Tootie went out of her way to stall the both of us this morning, but she took extra care to make sure your father stayed here until Timmy got a chance to talk to him." Having finished washing the dishes, Nicki dried off her hands and sat down across from Vicki at the table. "So you don't know either, huh?"

"Not a clue. I didn't hear so much as a peep out of Tootie about Timmy coming over, which is odd considering she's probably just waiting for the Twerp to pop the question at this point." The younger Valentine stood up from the table and strode over to the fridge, producing a carton of orange juice after a bit of digging.

"'Pop the question'?" Vicki's mother asked in confusion. "You do know that Timmy and your sister are just friends, right?"

The red-head sat back down as she drank directly from the orange juice carton, earning her an eye roll from her mother. "Ah... I know, I know. I should use a cup... But I'm gonna finish it, so there." Vicki took another sip before continuing. "And as for the Twerp and Toots being 'just friends'? Yeah right! Have you seen the way she hangs all over him? And Timmy! He doesn't even resist anymore! If that's not a red flag, I dunno what is."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Vicki. Your sister's always been a very affectionate person. Remember how she always used to hold my hand when we all went on vacation to Disney? She'd even hold _your_ hand if I wasn't around, or when I told you to keep an eye on her."

"That's different. Tootie was shy and just didn't want to get separated from us. She's never hugged us for as long as she hugs him, and she certainly never tried to hang all over us like she does Timmy. I think those two are secretly dating behind everyone's backs." Vicki swished her fork around in the puddle of syrup on her plate. "Not that they're being very secretive about it..."

"Keep it up, you don't sound jealous of some boy getting your sister's affection, not at all." Nicki remarked in a mocking tone as she stood up to take Vicki's now empty plate and put it in the sink.

" _Right_ , that must be it. I'm jealous of the Twerp and how much attention he gets from my little sister." It was Vicki's turn to roll her eyes this time.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement on the matter." The raven-haired woman turned from the sink to refocus her attention on Vicki. "So, what've you got planned today?"

"Nothing, why?" Vicki scratched her head, further messing up her already messy hair. _"Ugh... Need to grab a shower..."_

"Oh? No work today?" Nicki asked in slight disbelief. Her daughter usually had _something_ planned, be it her normal job, or the occasional babysitting job she still took on during the weekends or her off days.

"Unless I get a call from one of my clients in the next hour or two, nope. Just gonna spend the day relaxing around here... Might swing over to the Turner's house and jump in the pool... I dunno." Vicki shrugged indifferently.

"Listen to you... Your 'clients'? Sounds like you're this well-known business woman." Vicki's mother remarked in a(somewhat mockingly) impressed tone of voice.

"That's exactly what I am, in a sense. I don't have 'em anymore, but I used to carry around business cards when I was babysitting full-time. Although, now that I've only got a few clients, there hasn't been much need to. Most of the people I babysit for have my number on hand if they need to reach me..." The red-head at last noticed that the shoulder of her tank-top had slipped off, and slipped it back on.

This was in turn noticed by Nicki, who shook her head in amusement at her older daughter's lack of modesty. "Y'know Vicki, when we have guests over, it might be a good idea to... Maybe cover up? Just enough so that you aren't giving them a free show?"

"Ugh, you too?!" The red-head facepalmed and shook her head. "Dad said the same thing to me when I got up a few minutes ago, and I'll tell you the same thing I told him. Timmy's not a guest after the first few visits, and he's been over here plenty of times. Second, this _is_ my house, I should be able to dress how I want. And third, what's it matter? The Twerp's got the hots for Tootie, not me. _And_ , besides all that, he's seen me in less than this without batting an eye, so quit worrying... Both of you." Vicki looked at her mother sternly as she moved to exit the kitchen, but paused as she heard a groan from her father in the living room.

"Alright, I'm heading out Hon'!" Richard Valentine's voice echoed from the next room.

"'Kay, see you when you get home!" Nicki yelled out into the living room.

Vicki remained standing in front of the door, listening as Tootie said her own goodbye to their dad. "Bye, Dad!"

"Not gonna say bye to your father?"

The red-head looked over her shoulder at her mother, whose arms were now crossed over her chest. "Mom."

To anyone else, there seemed to be little to no feeling in Vicki's tone, but being that this was the babysitter's mother... "Alright, I get it. There's still some healing that needs to be done there. I won't push it."

The younger of the two Valentine women sighed, relieved that her mother knew her well enough that she didn't need to elaborate. "Thanks."

"You're welcome Honey." The raven-haired woman looked at the clock, seeing that it was now five past ten. "Well, you and Tootie have fun doing... Whatever you two end up doing. I'm gonna be late for work at the rate I'm going."

"'Kay, see you when you get back." Vicki finally left the kitchen and returned to the living room, and promptly chuckled as she found her sister and Timmy in what most would see as a fairly compromising position. The brunet half-sat, half-laid against the corner of the couch, his left leg hanging off while his right laid across the cushion he was on, and his hands were clasped together on his chest. Tootie; on the other hand, currently rested her head on Timmy's stomach while the rest of her body was laid somewhat parallel to the brunet's leg. Currently, her sister held the remote in her hand, occasionally pressing the channel button, pausing to look at what was on, then pressing it again. "Comfy?" Vicki quirked an eyebrow up at the admittedly cute couple.

"More or less." Timmy replied with a shrug, making Tootie lightly butt the back of her head into her friend's stomach to keep him from moving around so much.

The red-head stepped in front of the television, blocking the two teens' view of it. "So, you two finally gonna confirm what everyone already knows?"

"If you're talking about the two of us dating, then no, I'm not confirming that because it _isn't_ true." Tootie replied in annoyance. "Timmy just makes a good pillow..." The raven-haired girl shifted around slightly, then laid her head back down on Timmy's stomach. "When he's not moving around so much. You should try it some time, best pillow I've ever had." Tootie grinned at her sister cheekily as the brunet looked away, a dusting of pink now visible on his cheeks.

"I doubt Timmy would be very keen on the idea of me using him as a pillow, isn't that right, Twerp?" Vicki crossed her arms under her chest and leaned forward, unwittingly bringing a little more attention to a certain part of her anatomy.

"Well I..." Timmy lightly scratched his nose with his index finger. "I wouldn't be all that _opposed_ to it..." The blush on his cheeks darkened by a small degree.

"Hmph, you're just saying that to be nice. Still afraid of what I might do to you behind closed doors?" The red-head spoke in her familiar saccharine tone, then giggled as she saw Timmy's blush darken even further. "Anyway-" Vicki stood up straight and made for the stairs. "I'm gonna go take a shower, and mom's about to leave for work, so as much as I'm sure you two wanna bang each others brains out, try to behave yourselves, 'kay?"

The two watched Vicki disappear up the stairs, and Timmy, once he saw that the woman was out of sight, let his head drop back onto the arm of the couch with a thud. "Dammit... So much for me thinking that things were going well today..." The teen threw his arm over his eyes with a loud and dramatic sigh. "Maybe I should just go home-" Timmy cut himself off as he felt movement on the couch, movement that suggested that Tootie was moving closer. Leaning forward, he opened his eyes just in time to see his friend laying her head on his chest. "Wh-what are you-?"

"Shh! I'm listening..." Tootie pressed her ear against Timmy chest while raising her hand up to stop mere inches form covering his mouth.

The teen felt his blush return in full force. Yes, Tootie could be overly affectionate at times, but what she was doing now... Was a little ways past 'affectionate' and leaned more towards intimate. Yet, against his better judgment, Timmy remained silent, hoping that Vicki wouldn't come back downstairs for some reason and find her sister and him like they currently were.

"Wow..." Tootie grinned as she listened to the loud and rapid thumping in her friend's chest. It was beginning to slow down, but there was no doubt in the girl's mind now... "You _really_ like her, huh?"

"What'd you think, I was lying this whole time?" Timmy looked away, face still flushed red in embarrassment.

"No..." Tootie pushed herself up and off of the brunet. "It's... I'm just surprised, that's all... You've never, um... You've never really told me about... That."

"...It's not like I understand it all that much myself. That stuff I said to your dad? It's true, but... Until recently, I didn't really think of Vicki like that. Yeah, she's- Well, she's hot, but being hot isn't really enough to base a relationship on, so I thought more about it. I thought about the times she's looked out for me when she didn't have to, and she's been nice to me-"

" _I've_ been nice to you." Tootie smirked as she shot Timmy a knowing look.

"I know, and you're my best friend... But like I said, there's... some kind of draw to her abrasiveness. I like her _because_ she's mean, and because I know that the nicer side that rarely comes out _is_ there." While he felt relieved to be able to tell someone about how the red-head made him feel, the brunet also remembered a little too late just _who_ it was he was talking to. "Er... Sorry, Tootie. I know I'm probably not making this easy for you..."

The raven-haired girl scoffed at Timmy. "We're still on this? Timmy, look, I liked you for a long time, you're sweet, kind, a little goofy, but smart... When you need to be." She smirked teasingly before continuing. "And my best friend. Yeah, I'm a little jealous of Vicki, since I know now that I couldn't make your heart do that." Tootie tapped her fist on Timmy's chest for emphasis. "But... I guess we're just not right for each other." She shrugged as she stood up from the couch. "The heart wants what the heart wants, right? Yours wants Vicki, and mine... Just has to find another great guy. Maybe Chester'll be my Prince Charming, maybe he won't. But you and I aren't gonna stop being friends just because we can't be lovers..." Tootie turned back to Timmy with a devious grin. "Standing offer...?"

The brunet audibly gulped at Tootie's expression, then began tapping his index fingers together nervously. "Um..."

"Oh, chill out! I'm just messing around..." The raven-haired girl giggled at how easily she could fluster her prudish best friend as she offered her hand to pull him to his feet. "So, now that you've got my dad's permission to date Vicki, what're you planning on doing with the rest of the day? It's only..." Tootie pulled out her cellphone, which indicated the time as 10:36. "A little past ten-thirty, we've got the whole day to spend however we want!"

"Well... If it's all the same to you-Gah!" Before he could finish, the brunet was roughly pushed back down onto the couch, landing with a dull thud that was quickly followed by a second thud as his raven-haired friend fell, spun around mid-fall, and landed back-first on the couch, her head landing right where it had been before she'd gotten up. _"That was... actually pretty impressive."_

"You wanna wait for my sister, right?" Tootie brought her hands up to her stomach and clasped them together, allowing them to come to rest in such a way to make her pose resemble the one Timmy had been in earlier.

"You don't mind?" Timmy relaxed into the sofa cushions again, figuring he and Tootie would probably have a long wait ahead of them, if he was to consider how long Vicki's showers tended to take.

"I'm gonna need snacks to tide me over."

"Gonna have to let me get up then..." Timmy reached down to Tootie's shoulders, intending to give her a gentle push so he could get up, only to take pause as she rose to her feet.

"I'll be back!" With an obvious bounce in her step, Tootie made a beeline for the kitchen.

Timmy moved to get up, remembering how much of a hard time Tootie had the first time she tried to get herself a snack. "I could-"

The raven-haired girl spun around to face her brunet-haired friend, her right hand outstretched to display her palm, bidding for him to stop. "No! Stay! ...Good boy." Tootie smirked as Timmy obeyed her directive, then continued into the kitchen.

"I'm not a dog..." The brunet muttered as he fell back into his earlier position on the couch. _"So why am I acting like one...?"_

 _In the upstairs bathroom..._

Vicki turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, cutting what would've normally been an hour-long affair into a five minute rinse. Realizing she had little to do on a Saturday morning, the red-head decided that she'd go with the plan she'd thought of on a whim: Go over to the Turner's house for a dip in their pool. "Crap, should've asked the Twerp if it's even open... Certainly hope it is, didn't bother washing my hair..." Vicki pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed at her own lack of foresight, then strode over to the bathroom door, yanking it open. "Hey Twerp!" Vicki shouted down the hall and stairs, then listened for the sound of scurrying feet as her target ran over to the railing.

"Yeah?"

"Your parents open the pool yet?" The red-head yelled as she hung onto the bathroom's door frame for support, leaning out into the hall to ensure that her voice carried all the way downstairs.

The brunet gave the upstairs hall a rather flat and deadpanning look, even though it was impossible for Vicki to see it. "My parents don't know the first thing about owning a pool. _I_ opened it."

"No one likes a boaster, Timmy-AH!" As Vicki finished, her still wet fingers slipped off the door frame, sending the red-head plummeting towards the hard-wood floor of the hallway. Thinking quickly, she stuck her arms out in front of her to brace herself for the impact, yet, as before, these were wet, causing them to slip out from under her, and Vicki to land with a loud 'thud' on her stomach in the middle of the hall, still soaking wet, and still quite naked. "Graceful as a gazelle..." She muttered to herself as a rosy tint covered her cheeks.

"Vicki?! Are you okay?" Timmy moved around the railing and began hurriedly climbing the stairs.

"You take so much as one more step and I'll neuter you!" With her face now rivaling the color of a ripened tomato, Vicki scrambled on all fours in reverse back into the bathroom, then shut the door and leaned against it, releasing a relieved sigh. Yes, Timmy seeing her in her swimsuit or pajamas she could handle, but Timmy seeing her in her birthday suit? Big no. She had _some_ modesty, despite what many people likely thought.

 _Knock-Knock_

"Yeah?" The red-head lightly hit the back of her head against the bathroom door in response to the knocking.

"You okay in there?" Timmy's worry-filled voice alerted her to the identity of who'd been knocking.

Vicki gave herself a quick once-over, noticing that, other than a few particles of dirt on her stomach and chest, she was none the worse for wear. "I'm fine. Shouldn't you be downstairs making out with Tootie?" The red-head grimaced at her tone. She almost sounded... Jealous? _"Ugh... What am I thinking?"_ Vicki facepalmed and shook her head. _"Must've hit my head when I fell..."_

The brunet, now leaning on his shoulder up against the bathroom door, sighed. "You're _really_ pushing that, ain't ya?"

"Me? You're the one holding her in a protective embrace on the couch! Only person pushing things around here is you." Vicki stood up straight and grabbed the towel off the sink. She was beginning to wish that she was the type to bring her clothes into the bathroom with her when she showered. With a shrug, the red-haired woman wrapped the towel around herself; not even bothering with drying off now, and pulled open the door to the bathroom, causing Timmy to lose his balance from not having anything to lean against and tumble onto the wet floor. "So, the pool _is_ open, right?"

"Agh..." Timmy rubbed the back of his head, sore from connecting with the tile floor of the bathroom. "First of all, Tootie and I are just friends... Very close friends. You'd think a guy couldn't have a close relationship with a girl he's known most of his life without there being some romantic undertones to their relationship!" The brunet nearly shouted at Vicki in annoyance. "Second, I..." Timmy paused, quickly realizing how very little his ex-babysitter was currently wearing. "I'm um..." He felt his cheeks heat up, and opted to just shut up, knowing he'd end up saying something stupid if he continued.

"You're um?" Vicki shot the brunet a quizzical look, then turned her attention down to herself, remembering that she was currently wearing nothing but a medium-sized towel. "Right. Naked." She adjusted the towel, ensuring it wouldn't fall down in the middle of talking. "Okay, I know you're a guy, so there's probably not a lot of blood going up here-" Vicki tapped the side of her head with her index finger. "At the moment, but I need you to focus, Timmy. Can you do that? Can my Twerp focus for thirty seconds?" She purposefully finished in a childish tone.

In response, Timmy nodded dumbly, as the part of his brain that dictated talking was apparently out to lunch for the moment.

"Sweet. Now, the pool, right? It's open, all set, doesn't need any chemicals to go in it, and it's safe to swim in, right?"

"Um... Y-yeah. Should be all- all set." Another nod, this one slower.

"Good, because I'm coming over. It's gonna be ninety today, so... Tell Tootie to go grab her bathing suit, and I assume you have one at your house...?" Vicki brought her index finger up to her chin in thought.

"Well... Yeah, but-"

"Okay good!" The red-head exclaimed with no small amount of enthusiasm as she tore off her towel and whipped it into Timmy's face before he could catch a glimpse of anything. "I'll be ready in ten, so tell Tootie to get her ass in gear!"

Timmy listened for the distinct sound of moist feet padding out of the bathroom, then heard what he assumed was Vicki's bedroom door shut; upon hearing this, he sighed and whipped Vicki's towel off his face. "Way to go, me..." From what he could tell, Vicki was completely oblivious to him liking her, and he was too afraid to say much of anything in her presence, though her state of undress may have affected that.

"Timmy? Sis...? Anybody- Oh." Tootie peeked into the bathroom, finding her best friend sprawled out on the floor, a soaked towel in his hand. "Jeez, Timmy. If you wanted to take a shower, just tell me..." The raven-haired girl grinned at him as she lowered her glasses. "Although... One of us clearly has no idea about proper showing procedure."

Timmy narrowed his eyes and frowned at his friend's teasing remark. "Bite me."

"What do I get in return?" Tootie's grin remained as she once again offered Timmy her hand so she could pull him up.

Timmy once more found himself rolling his eyes at Tootie's bizarre sense of humor. "Y'know Toots, if you said or tried half of the stuff to someone else that you do to me, you'd have been sued for sexual harassment by now."

"Don't pretend you don't love my weirdness." The raven-haired girl responded in a mockingly offended tone. "So, what're we doing today?"

"Guess we're going swimming, according to Vicki. She told me to tell you to go grab your swimsuit, and to be ready in about ten minutes." Timmy shrugged indifferently. He didn't really have a problem with relaxing in his backyard pool all day, it just wasn't how he'd expected the day to go when he first got up.

"So... _You're_ gonna be swimming too, right?" An evil smile broke out across Tootie's face as she quirked an eyebrow up at the brunet.

"You're just gonna ogle me all day, aren't you?"

Tootie's smile faded as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes contemplatively. "Mm... It's a distinct possibility." The raven-haired girl nodded her head, then spun around and exited the bathroom. "See you downstairs."

Timmy let out a groan as Tootie left the bathroom. No matter what he did, it seemed that the two girls had him wrapped quite securely around their fingers. Vicki, because he liked her, obviously, but there was still that lingering concern about what she might do to him if he didn't obey her. Tootie; on the other hand, simply had his loyalty as a friend. No, he didn't have romantic feelings for the girl, but she was, without a doubt, cute, and the brunet found he simply couldn't say no to her. _"Well... At least they don't_ know _I can't tell either of them no..."_


	3. Mixed Signals

A/N: So, for my lovely readers and reviewers who didn't check my profile... And even those who did, allow me to apologize. This is far later than I wanted it to be, due to LibreOffice crashing into a brick wall while writing this chapter. Then doing it again the next day; erasing the whole thing the first time, and a substantial portion of it the second. Alas, it feels like I can never quite get the magic flowing with a chapter rewrite like I felt the first time, so I can only hope that you enjoy this moderately longer and mentally frustrating chapter. For me. I don't think it should frustrate any of you until about halfway. And don't **you** start. Legal age of consent is sixteen in both of our states.

* * *

Timmy sat on the couch in the living room, occasionally offering the still-on television a quick glance, followed by an equally quick glance at his phone, which now indicated the time as eleven-fifteen. 'Ten minutes', as Vicki had put it, was nearly a half an hour ago now, and while the brunet knew most of the Valentine household inside and out(barring Vicki's bedroom), there were precious few things he could actually do in the house by himself. Tootie owned a few game systems like him, and he'd almost gone up to her room to knock and see if she was done, but this idea was quickly put to rest with Timmy's realization that, if he went into Tootie's room while she was getting changed, and thereby wearing very little in the way of clothing... Leaving might be difficult, and that was putting it mildly.

And while he _could_ go see if Vicki was ready yet, the brunet feared the possibilities that may be associated with that action. He'd likely get an earful from the red-head about being patient, or a loud threat of bodily harm for his impatience, or she might not even want to come by at all... Because he wasn't patient.

"Argh... Why do women have to take so long?" Timmy leaned backward into the couch, his head and neck coming to rest on the back of the couch, nearly giving him a full upside-down view of the front door. After several seconds, the brunet breathed out a sigh through his nose. "I'm hungry." He immediately shot to his feet and made for the kitchen, hoping Tootie still had some snacks lying around. He'd even settle for her ridiculously sweet cookies right now! _"...Why does that sound dirty in my head?"_

Shaking his head to rid himself of the odd thoughts, Timmy stepped over to the cupboard that he'd seen Tootie struggling with, and chuckled as he easily reached the handle and pulled it open. It was kind of odd, the girl wasn't all that much shorter than him, yet she had to climb up onto the counter to reach the cupboard, while he could reach it without any trouble at all. _"Maybe... My arms are longer?"_ Shrugging his shoulders, Timmy grabbed one of the boxes of cookies and tore the top off, an action that immediately caused his nostrils to be assaulted by that familiar cloyingly sweet scent, this time in strawberry flavor.

The teen reached into the box, his right hand returning with a cookie that matched his favorite hat in color, though quite unlike his hat, the confection was covered in pinkish sugar crystals. After several seconds of staring at the definitely too-sweet treat, the brunet sighed and hung his head as his stomach growled at his inaction.

Hesitantly, Timmy brought the cookie to his mouth and tentatively bit into it, an action that was immediately followed by- "Blagh!" The teenaged brunet tossed the box of cookies onto the counter and dropped the one he'd been eating as he rushed over to the sink and turned it on, then stuck his tongue under the faucet, intending to wash the offending taste out of his mouth. His eyes briefly fell on a steel wool pad, but he opted against using it, knowing it would likely do more harm than good.

"Hey Timmy, everything... o...kay...?" Tootie's voice trailed off as she entered the kitchen and caught sight of her best friend, his head still under the faucet, and water pouring into his mouth amid a loud gargling sound.

Timmy gave her a sidelong glance and responded as best he could with water being blasted into his mouth. "Mm-mm!"

"Um... Okay... You know we have bottled water in the fridge, right?" To prove her point, the raven-haired girl opened the fridge door, showing off the twenty-four pack of water bottles in it.

Timmy; satisfied that the overly sweet taste was mostly off his tongue, turned off the faucet and spat water out of his mouth into the sink, then turned to face Tootie. "Hah... How can you stand those cookies?! They literally taste like Diabetes!"

"I had no idea you knew what Diabetes tasted like." Tootie deadpanned. "And who said you could eat _my_ cookies, anyway?"

"Had I known they'd send me one step away from insulin shock, I wouldn't have tried them." It was at this point that Timmy noticed Tootie's chosen apparel; currently, his friend wore a pair of plain, black sandals, purplish shorts that were just a bit lengthier than the sleeping shorts Timmy had seen Vicki wearing earlier, and a faded t-shirt that had, at one time, likely been purple like the girl's shorts, but was now a bit closer to lavender. It appeared that purple was for Tootie what pink was for Timmy.

"Hey, I see those wanderin' eyes, Mister Turner. For someone who likes my sister, you seem to spend quite a good bit of time undressing me with those pretty blue eyes, y'know that?" Tootie chuckled at her friend who, upon hearing the girl's teasing little remark, quickly refocused his gaze on her eyes, a barely-there blush now adorning his cheeks.

However; after several seconds, Timmy glanced away with a pout, Tootie's words finally sinking in. "Except you take nearly every one of my glances in your direction as me checking you out, I don't see how that's fair..."

The raven-haired girl grinned at Timmy's flustered response, then adjusted her purple horn-rimmed glasses, creating a decidedly anime-style lens flash with them. "I never said anything about myself or my mannerisms being fair..."

The brunet sighed in defeat as his gaze returned to his best friend. "Point taken... You run into Vicki upstairs? The rate we're going here, we might as well stop somewhere for lunch."

"Your treat?" Tootie asked with a hopeful look on her face.

"Like you need to ask?" Timmy shot Tootie a rather flat look. She, at the very least, _had_ to know that there weren't a great many things he _wouldn't_ do for her, if she'd only ask... Then again, maybe she really _didn't_ know, and that was probably for the best. The girl was becoming quite adept at manipulating him, much like Vicki was, except the red-head could do it with everybody.

Timmy stooped to pick up the fragment of pure sugar he'd tried and failed to eat and tossed it into the trash. "No, I'm gonna take two girls out to lunch, then make them pay, I'm _that_ much of an ass." The brunet remarked sarcastically as he narrowed his eyes at Tootie, who was now clearly just trying to get a rise out of him.

"Ooh... Sarcasm, that's a new one." The bespectacled girl chuckled as she stepped toward Timmy, arms behind her back as she approached him disarmingly, much in the way someone might if they wanted to sneak in a sucker punch. "But I wonder..." Tootie smirked as she stopped in front of the brunet, her face mere inches from his. "What's got you so on edge?"

"I-I'm not on edge..." Timmy took a step backward, putting just a bit more distance between himself and the girl in front of him. "I'm just... Just nervous!" He nodded in agreement with his own justification. "Yeah! I'm nervous!"

"Really?" Tootie asked in a not-quite-believing tone. "So... Despite the fact that I'm your best friend, the reason you're steadily trying to escape into the cabinets-" She grinned as the boy in front of her backed into and bumped his head on the row of cabinet doors behind him. "-Is because you're nervous? Hm... What's got you so _nervous_ then?" Tootie again stopped right in front of Timmy, another inch and her nose would've been brushing against his.

"...Can you give me a sec?" The brunet placed both hands on Tootie's shoulders, lightly pushing her back a few feet, then released her and brought his right hand up and over to his left arm to pinch it. "Ow. Okay, not some hormone-induced daydream... The _fuck_ is going on?!"

"I don't know what you mean, Timmy. I'm just showing a little concern for my best friend..." Tootie replied _much_ too innocently, visibly putting her best friend even further on edge. "So what's up? You excited to see Vicki in her swimsuit... Or is it me you're thinking of...?" She leaned forward a little, making her glasses slide down her nose and reveal her violet-colored eyes.

"Tootie... You can drop the teasing now..." Timmy gulped audibly as he felt a wave of heat wash over him, not only was he blushing a shade of pink bordering on red, but he was also beginning to sweat. Tootie acting like this... Was kind of a turn-on. Yes, she apparently got a lot of enjoyment out of hanging all over him in an affectionate(and platonic, he thought) manner, but this was quite a bit different. She hadn't so much as put a finger on him, and yet his heartbeat was starting to speed up.

Ignoring his request, the raven-haired girl continued. "Y'know... Every other time I went swimming in the pool at your house, I wore that one-piece swimsuit. You remember, right? The black one with the big purple flower on the left hip?" Tootie pointed to her own hip so as to further jog her friend's memory.

Yet she didn't need to. Odd as it was, Timmy could vividly recall the swimsuit Tootie wore last year, though he'd never paid enough attention for it to have any reason to stand out in his memories as much as it did now. "M-Maybe..." The brunet scratched at his nose and glanced over at the doorway separating the living room and kitchen. Like at his house, there was a door that cut one room off from the other, though it didn't latch, allowing it to swing either inward or outward from just a simple push. Which was in turn good news for the brunet, as it afforded him an easy escape route, something he was beginning to think he might desperately need.

"Maybe? Hmph! I thought I looked kinda cute in my bathing suit..." Tootie spoke in a mockingly hurt tone.

His attention being more focused on a clean escape, Timmy didn't notice the 'mocking' tone in his best friend's voice, only the 'hurt'. "No! ...I mean, I-I remember... You looked cute in it..." Timmy rubbed the back of his head nervously. He was treading in dangerous territory now, either Tootie was _really_ trying to mess with him, or she actually still had feelings for him... And the teen was beginning to wonder if some part of his brain might have similar feelings for her. Possibly. Maybe. Just a slim chance, really.

"Really?" Tootie's eyes filled with hope and excitement, she looked like a kid whose parents had just told her they were taking her to Disneyland.

For a few brief seconds, Timmy couldn't respond, his mind overcome with uneasiness from how excited Tootie had become, and an odd feeling he wasn't able to decipher that seemed to appreciate how adorable his friend was when she was acting so cute. "Um... Y-Yes...?" Where this conversation was headed, the brunet couldn't even begin to imagine. He'd always thought Tootie was cute, in a sort of nerdy schoolgirl way... Though he'd never actually voiced his opinion, since it would almost definitely void the 'platonic' part of their friendship.

The girl chuckled at her friend's flustered response, quite enjoying that she could elicit this type of reaction in the brunet. "Well... As I'm sure you can imagine, that one was getting kind of small for me, a bit _tight_ in places, y'know? So, a few weeks ago, I figured I'd go and buy a new one, since I knew the pool at your house would be opened soon."

"Um... O-okay?" Timmy leaned against the counter, still slightly on edge from how Tootie was acting. Her current behavior seemed so wildly different from how she normally was. Yes, she did seem to enjoy being overly affectionate with him, hugging him at random, occasionally going so far as to nuzzle her cheek against his... But this was different from those times... The lustful way she kept looking at him, the way she was speaking to him, in an almost sultry(?) tone... It did more than just put the brunet on edge, he was beginning to feel less like he was leaning away from Tootie, and more like he was bracing himself back from the girl.

"C'mon Timmy, I know that most of the time, those little glances my way don't really mean anything, that's simply part of interacting with someone and having a conversation with them. You pick up the subtle little hints in their body language, maybe your eyes happen to drift over _certain_ areas... But you and I both know that you've checked me out on more than one occasion." Tootie grinned as Timmy's blush darkened a bit further, now being much closer to red than pink.

She was wrong, that's what Timmy told himself anyway. Much like he'd told himself that he didn't feel _that_ way about Tootie. He and her were friends. Just. Friends... Except the thought of someone who was _just_ your friend in her bathing suit wasn't supposed to be exciting. When he'd gotten up this morning, the brunet had every intention of talking to Tootie and Vicki's dad, getting his permission to date _Vicki_ , and then... And then what? _"Jeez, what_ was _my plan?!"_ The teen came to the realization that Tootie's behavior had thrown him so far out of whack mentally, he couldn't even remember what his intentions were! He knew for a fact that he liked Vicki... So then what was he now feeling for Tootie?

"You wanna have a look at it?" It was now Tootie's turn to blush, though it wasn't nearly as obvious as Timmy's was. Intending to further pique her best friend's curiosity, the raven-haired girl brought her right hand up to her hip and ran her fingers back and forth over the frayed hem of her t-shirt.

"I-Wh-What?!" Timmy harshly whispered out at the girl. His assumption that this was all just another little teasing game by Tootie was becoming harder and harder to believe.

"My new swimsuit. I know you want to see how I look in it... So you want a sneak preview now? Or..." Tootie grinned. "Would you rather savor the moment and wait until we get to your house?"

Timmy; mouth slightly agape at Tootie's offer, watched as she tugged on the bottom of her shirt, stretching the waist of the shirt out, and lowering its neckline just a bit. Unfortunately for him, her attempts to pique his interest were working _very_ well. Knowing Tootie, it probably wasn't anything all _that_ revealing, but... Timmy wasn't the type to avert his gaze from free eye candy, nor was he the type to deny it when it was offered to him... Yet this was Tootie! She was his best friend! He couldn't ask this of her in good conscience, not while he had feelings for her older sister too! "I- um... I'd like to see it..." Timmy's eyes widened in shock as his mouth betrayed his brain, making the teen audibly slap his hands over his traitorous mouth.

"Hah!" Tootie couldn't suppress the quick laugh that escaped her lips at Timmy's actions. "Oh no you don't! I heard you loud and clear, Timmy!" Another giggle escaped the girl as the brunet in front of her lowered his hands from his mouth. "However..." Tootie began once more in a tone that made the brunet _very_ uncomfortable as she took a few steps closer to him, putting her right back where she'd been a few minutes earlier, with her nose now just barely touching Timmy's. "You lost any hope of getting eye candy for backtracking."

"T-Tootie... Why... Why are you doing this?" Though he had to look down slightly to meet Tootie's gaze, Timmy couldn't help but feel like he was the smaller party here.

The raven-haired girl responded with little more than a grin, then wrapped the fingers of her right hand around Timmy's left wrist and pulled his now captured hand over to her, gently placing it on her hip, just below the waistline of the shorts she wore. "I think you mean 'we', Timmy." Tootie; assuming that her friend wasn't going to move his hand from where she placed it, now slid her right hand up the male teen's arm, letting it settle comfortably on his shoulder. "Besides-" The girl lowered her glasses with her free hand, just enough so that she could see over the frames and look into Timmy's eyes unimpeded. "Are you really gonna tell me you're not enjoying this, to some extent?"

And there was the problem. Under more normal circumstances, Timmy was sure that every fiber of his being would be telling him to yank his hand off Tootie's hip and ask that she stop. He wouldn't push her away roughly, just calmly ask that she give him some space. That he appreciated her friendship more than even Chester and AJ's, but he didn't like her... Like that.

Except normal had checked out about five minutes ago, and didn't seem very keen on returning anytime soon. With a sigh of resignation to the situation he found himself in, Timmy slowly slid his hand up to the waist of Tootie's shorts, and under the hem of her t-shirt, bringing his fingers into contact with the smooth and definitely bare skin of her waist. This action alone brought a small feeling of electricity with it, not like the static shock one received from sliding their socks on a carpet, it was deeper, like the nerves of his fingers themselves were electrified from touching Tootie's skin.

And it seemed to affect her too, as Timmy could feel little goosebumps breaking out across the area he'd grazed with his fingertips. The effect was surprising for both of them, with Timmy almost pulling his hand away from Tootie's hip, and the raven-haired girl herself just barely shuddering at his touch. Somehow, this was completely different from _any_ of the other times they'd had physical contact with each other. The cheek nuzzling, the times they'd bumped against each other, purposefully or otherwise, the hugs... All of those actions paled in comparison to the feeling brought on by this less-than-innocent little touch.

A touch that Timmy found... Exciting. The almost instinctive compulsion to push Tootie away had been shoved far to the back of the brunet's mind. Right now, he wanted her right where she was, he wanted to see how far his hand could go before it hit the material of the bathing suit she claimed to be wearing, he wanted to bring his right hand; the one holding him up against the counter, over to her other hip, to see if he could get the same feeling though his right hand as he did his left... Yet he paused, fingertips lightly grazing the girl's skin as he felt a weak pressure against his chest.

"Y-you stopped. W-why'd you s-stop?" Tootie continued to stare up at him, close enough now that he could feel her warm breath on his lips. The look on her face best described as 'pleading'.

And said look made the brunet raise a curious eyebrow at his friend. She'd been the one to catch _him_ off guard, and yet Timmy couldn't help but feel like he'd unintentionally exerted a measure of control over the situation. Evidently, he wasn't the only one turned on right now, if the look on her face, slight shuddering, and Tootie stumbling over her own words was anything to go by. Realizing he didn't have an answer to her question, Timmy shrugged as an odd thought came to mind. _"_ _We've already gone this far... Couldn't hurt to..._ _"_ The brunet slowly flattened his hand against Tootie's hip, letting his fingers spread out over her smooth skin, and making her breath audibly hitch in her throat. "You um... You _are_ wearing a bathing suit... right?"

"K-keep that up... And you're- Heheh... You're b-bound to find out e-eventually..." Tootie's hand slipped off Timmy's shoulder, coming to rest on the counter behind the brunet.

At the same time, Timmy couldn't help but reminisce on all those times Tootie had hugged him, touched him, rubbed up against him... And wonder if there had been ulterior motives to her actions. Surely he would've noticed if she got... Like _this_ , but had those seemingly innocent hugs been... Not as innocent as he'd thought?

Even if they had, the teen would have time to think on that later. For now, his mind was more preoccupied with the girl that was likely a step away from clinging to him. He slid his left hand further up her waist-

"Eep!" Tootie suddenly squeaked out as she jerked to his right, though not enough for his hand to leave her body.

"What?! What's wrong?!" The brunet whispered out, not wanting to risk drawing Vicki's attention to what he and her sister were doing.

"Nothing! It's just..." The raven-haired girl seemed to consider something for a few moments, then relaxed back into her previous position, allowing Timmy's hand to fully rest on the upper area of her hip once again. "I'm kinda... Ticklish..." Tootie's earlier blush returned, this time coming a bit closer to matching Timmy's.

"I'll have to remember that for later..." The brunet smirked as his hand glided further along her skin, again making Tootie shudder, before colliding with thin, string-like fabric. Tempted as he was to slip his finger under what he could only assume was a bikini not unlike the one he'd seen Vicki in last summer, Timmy instead slowly moved his index finger back and forth over the thin piece of material. "You steal one of the string bikinis Vicki likes to wear?"

This question was, at last, enough to make Tootie avert her gaze from the boy feeling her up, a more than obvious pinkish hue now evident on her cheeks. "I-I thought it l-looked cute, so I g-got it. Figured it was t-time to try s-something a bit sexier t-than a one-piece... And I'd s-say it's w-working, or do I need to... To remind you where your hand is-Ah!" The girl yelped as she felt Timmy's fingernails drag across the ticklish skin on her side.

"Nope. I know _exactly_ where my hand is..." Timmy nearly surprised himself with how confident his voice sounded. He'd spent the better part of four years trying to get away from this girl and her obsessive advances, then another four years were spent with both of them figuring each other out and becoming friends... Yet all it took was a few heated minutes of caressing Tootie's skin for the brunet to find he enjoyed the fact that his best friend was putty in his hands, and, though she was making quite a bit of noise, she certainly wasn't complaining...

"S-stop tickling me-Ah!" The raven-haired girl cried out in surprise as she felt someone behind her tug on her pigtails.

"Alright, that's enough, Tootie. You can molest the Twerp at his house, but you're not screwing around here." The red-head the two teens had forgotten about grinned evilly as she watched Timmy's hand dart out from under her sister's shirt.

"Ah! Owowow! V-Vicki! Lemme go! I wasn't molesting anyone! Timmy was the one touching me-e-e!" The raven-haired girl flailed her arms about in a vain attempt to break free from her sister's iron grip.

Which seemed to be enough to make the pink-eyed woman take pause in her restraining of her sister and look up at Timmy, who in turn gave Tootie a look of genuine disbelief for throwing him under the bus. Yes, he had been feeling Tootie up pretty enthusiastically, but he hadn't been the one to instigate the feeling up!

"Pfft! Yeah right! Twerp-Derp doesn't have the balls to do anything like that! Or did you forget that I've _seen_ you rubbing up on him with my own eyes?" Despite this, Vicki did indeed release her sister, then sidestepped the girl as she staggered back. "Nuh-uh, no way are you two getting your hormones all over the kitchen that mom just cleaned! Tootie, go wait outside by my car, I need to have a quick word with your boyfriend." She pointed at the door separating the living room from the kitchen, while keeping her attention on Timmy.

"W-well... I'm not finished with him!" Tootie declared rather childishly as she left the kitchen, now inhabited by only the brunet and his ex-babysitter.

Timmy turned his attention to Vicki, and her interesting choice of apparel... The red-head had apparently opted against wearing a shirt, instead wearing nothing but her familiar lime-green bathing suit top. The stringy one.

A glance further down revealed that the woman wore a pair of old, black jeans... Or what remained of them. It appeared that she had cut off the legs just below the pockets, allowing the white fabric of said pockets to slip out. And like Tootie, she completed the ensemble with a pair of sandals, green to match her bikini top.

Seeing the way Timmy seemed to be almost sizing her up, Vicki couldn't help but giggle at his roaming gaze. "I know, hard to look away, isn't it?"

The teenager's wandering blue eyes immediately shot up to meet Vicki's, her own eyes holding a clear measure of pride from knowing how good she looked. God did these two girls know how to distract him! "You're... Kind of not wearing a shirt..."

"How perceptive." The red-head deadpanned at him, then crossed her arms under her chest, further accentuating her somewhat modest bust. "Y'know, my plan _was_ to ask you if you were alright after I got Tootie off you, but..." Vicki's lips curled into a sly smirk. "I got a pretty clear indication that that little moment between you two wasn't as one-sided as you'd want me to believe... Not to mention that roll of half-dollars in your pocket."

"Roll of half...?" Timmy looked down at his pockets, quickly catching on to what his ex-babysitter was suggesting upon seeing the fairly obvious outline of his erect member. "Um... M-maybe I'm just happy to see you?" A goofy grin spread across the brunet's face as he realized he'd likely just signed his own death warrant.

Yet, he couldn't help but be surprised as Vicki's eyes widened at how quickly he rolled with her verbal punch. "Hmph. Not bad, Timmy."

" _Can't help but wonder if she's referring to my snappy comeback, or the size of my..."_ Despite his naughty thoughts, the brunet spun around to face the cabinets, pretending they were infinitely more interesting than the girl behind him.

Vicki laughed lightly at Timmy's far-too-late attempt to cover up. Not an evil cackle, not the laugh of some comic book super villain, just a light, genuine, normal girl's laugh. A laugh that Timmy could easily admit to liking quite a bit, this being the first time he'd heard it.

"Look..." Vicki stepped over next to Timmy and leaned against the counter. "You might as well just tell me you two are together. I'm not gonna make fun of either of you for it, I just want some kind of confirmatory response from one of you, and I think I might have better luck with you than my sister."

Timmy glanced out of the corner of his eye at Vicki. He could tell that she was looking right at him... But for the life of him, he couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze, and instead spun back around to face where she had been a few minutes earlier. "We _aren't_ together though..."

"Well I'm afraid that the sight of your hand halfway up Tootie's shirt tells a different story." Seeing that Timmy had no intention of meeting her face-to-face, Vicki turned to face the same direction he was, letting her back rest against the kitchen counter. "Unless... Well, I could be wrong." She shrugged as another idea came to mind. "But if you don't have romantic feelings for my sister... Should I assume that means you're just trying to get laid?"

"What?! No!" Timmy finally turned his head to look at Vicki. He was somewhat disgusted, but mostly surprised that she apparently thought so little of him. "Tootie's my best friend. I wouldn't do something like that to her... You honestly think I'd be friends with her just to get in her pants?!"

The red-head; by and large unaffected by the brunet's forceful tone towards her, brought her index finger up to her chin in thought. "Hmm... No, I suppose not. Tootie's a bit too eager to give you a roll in the hay for that to be the case, isn't she? And... It makes no sense for you to be playing a long game, since, as I said, all you'd probably have to do is ask... So then may I ask _why_ you were feeling her up?"

"Because she-! ...Ugh, I dunno..." Timmy lowered his voice, knowing that getting mad at his ex-babysitter definitely wasn't going to help the situation. "We've been friends for so long now, and that kind of stuff... Well... No, I've never touched her like _that_ before, but the other stuff... Hugging, sometimes cuddling up on the couch... That stuff was- _Is_ normal for us... And Tootie... She told me she liked Chester... I don't... I don't know why she was acting the way she was... Or why I couldn't..." Timmy brought his right hand up to his forehead, rubbing at it in confusion, then facepalmed. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize Tootie wasn't the only one at fault here. "I couldn't keep my hands off her. It was exciting to touch her, feel her skin against mine... I don't get it..." The brunet continued to lean against the counter, trying and failing to make sense of the absolutely insane day he was having.

Vicki, seeing how conflicted Timmy was, let out what she meant to be a sympathetic sigh. "Alright, first things first. That thing she said about... What'd you say his name was? Chester?" The red-head chuckled as she remembered the blond boy's face. _"_ _Right... Braces!"_ "Tootie doesn't have a thing for Chester. Tootie doesn't have a _thing_ for any member of the male species except you. Y'ever hear the expression: 'Single Target Sexuality'? That fits Tootie to a 'T'. My little sis ain't heterosexual, she's _Timmy_ sexual. Only person in this whole world she has any interest in is you." Vicki chuckled humorlessly as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Maybe I shoulda just let you two fuck and get it out of your systems... How long you been dating my sister now? Goin' on four years or so?" She grinned as she finished, obviously just teasing, but unbeknownst to the red-head, Timmy was far past joking around.

"I-! _We_ aren't dating!" The brunet shouted at the girl angrily, having grown completely exasperated with everyone's assumption that he and Tootie were together. "She caught me off guard and I... I couldn't stop myself... I liked how it felt to just... Just touch her without her smothering me with kisses, or suffocating me with a hug... It was nice..." He trailed off as he finished, beginning to feel ashamed of himself for his actions, and knowing that he had little to no chance with Vicki now.

"So you enjoy feeling up my sister, getting close enough to her to kiss her, and all the affectionate little gestures she gives you... But the two of you aren't dating?" The red-head crossed her arms, speaking in a tone that was clearly intended to make Timmy realize how ridiculous he sounded. "Then what _are_ you doing?"

"I..." Timmy smiled at his babysitter, though the look on his face was more somber than happy."I don't know. I think... Maybe I do like Tootie..."

"Alright. That's a good first step, Twerp. So what's stopping you from telling her? We both know Tootie's still head over heels for you, and you at least _think_ you like her, so what's the problem?" The pink-eyed woman stared expectantly at the boy whose well-being used to be her main source of income.

"Because there's... Someone else I like too. Someone I've liked before today..." Timmy opened his mouth to speak further, but found his nerve had left him, and closed it again. The other person was right here in front of him, and he hadn't the foggiest idea how she'd respond to a declaration of affection for her, especially after he'd just admitted to liking her little sister...

"Aw Hell, it's Trixie, ain't it? You still got a thing for that rich, air-headed moron? She's _never_ gonna-"

"It's not Trixie." To his knowledge, Trixie was apparently dating Tad... Or Chad... Or maybe both, Timmy didn't really pay attention to his ex-crush's affairs anymore. "Believe it or not, it's someone you know pretty well..." He finished in a mildly coy tone, knowing Vicki still wouldn't figure it out with that little evidence.

Vicki sighed exasperatedly as she ran her hand through her hair and scratched at her scalp. "I guess it's none of my business what her name is... Or _his_ -"

"I-It's a girl!" The brunet's face flushed bright red in embarrassment.

"Hahaha! Jeez, Timmy, calm your jets." The twenty-two year old spoke in a gleefully amused tone and lightly patted Timmy's shoulder.

" _Guess we're back to the evil cackle..."_ Oddly enough, the teen found he didn't completely dislike said cackle like he did in his youth. It had somehow become part of the older woman's charm... Though he still much preferred the gentler laugh he'd heard a few minutes prior.

"Still, you've found yourself in _quite_ the pickle, haven't ya?" Proving she had more in common with Tootie than one would think, Vicki leaned up against the brunet, balancing her elbow onto his shoulder as she hummed contemplatively. "Okay, I _might_ be willing to help you, on... Two conditions."

"I think I might be better off on my own..." Timmy deadpanned and shot the woman a flat look.

Vicki responded with a grin as she hummed in an amused tone. "Ah... See? I always knew there was a spine in there somewhere!" She shifted her weight off her elbow, causing the side of her chest to collide lightly with the brunet's shoulder, then positioned her hand behind Timmy and pinched the skin of his lower back, causing him to jump in surprise. "C'mon though, the only person who'll know Tootie better than me is Tootie, and I seriously doubt you wanna ask her what excites her... Unless you're into getting tied to a bed while a girl does stuff to you...?"

"...After a bit of consideration, I think I will ask for your help, Vicki." The teen verbally backpedaled amid mental images of himself being naked, tied to a bed, while Tootie looked through a small assortment of what some might call sex toys, and most would call torture equipment. Imaginary Tootie was also singing 'Sticks and stones will break my bones, but chains and whips excite me!' ...For some reason.

"Hey!" Timmy's ex-babysitter snapped her fingers in front of Timmy's face several times, trying to bring him back from his trip to La La Land. "You can accept my help all you want, but I ain't doing shit until you meet those two conditions I mentioned."

The brunet shook his head a few times, permanently willing away(he hoped) the very disturbing mental images his brain had conjured up, and refocusing his attention on the red-haired woman still leaning up against him. "Sorry... Kinda... Drifted off there for a second..."

"You say that like it's the first time it's happened." Vicki stated matter-of-factly. "Anyway, first things first... I'm hungry. How 'bout you treat your hot babysitter to lunch?"

Much to the chagrin of the buck-toothed teen, Vicki somehow managed the same innocent stare Tootie absolutely loved to use on him. How both girls could make their eyes appear bigger and on the verge of tears, he had no idea, but he couldn't argue the effectiveness of the tactic, even if the red-head didn't need to use it in the first place. "I... Was kind of already going to. Tootie asked if we could go get lunch... We didn't settle on a place yet, but..." Timmy's blush returned as he stared at Vicki, it appeared that she too could be cute, when she wanted to be. Though her state of relative undress probably played a factor as well.

"Well shit. Wasted a perfectly good favor. I'll... Oh! I got it! Since you wanna take your beautiful, awesome, totally not-evil babysitter on a date-"

"But we're just getting lunch-!" Timmy's defense was silenced as a pale index finger came to rest on his lips.

"A date doesn't have to have romantic undertones."

" _Can't it anyway, though?"_ The brunet realized a little too late that his denial of them going on a date was completely the opposite of what he actually wanted. "Mm-hm?"

"At some point today, I want to know _who_ it is that's giving my little Sis competition for this-" Vicki poked the teen's chest, right in the spot where his heart was. "Agreed?"

" _Of all the things it could be, why does it have to be_ that _?!"_ Timmy mentally screamed, cursing how often his luck seemed to flip-flop between preternaturally good, and horrendously bad. When he'd asked the two sisters' father for permission to date Vicki earlier, he'd intended to take it slow, maybe a casual flirt here and there, give her a ride to work now and then, compliment her on her looks...

But now she was essentially forcing him to admit liking her if he wanted her help in figuring Tootie out! Help with something he wasn't even sure of! Granted, Vicki had no idea that the other girl he liked was the red-head herself, but... But what was even the point of refusing her help? It _would_ give him an excuse to spend more time with her _and_ Tootie, time he could use to figure his feelings for them out, and hopefully choose one without completely alienating the other... "A-" Timmy shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously, then back again. "Agreed. By the end of- Of the day... I'll tell you."

"Alright then, we have a deal- ...Hm?" Vicki quirked an eyebrow up at Timmy in curiosity, moving her hand back to the space over his heart, though instead of tapping on it with her finger like she had before, this time she laid her palm flat on his chest, making a small noise of approval after several seconds. "Just the thought of this girl makes your heart do _this_ , huh? You get this same feeling with Tootie?"

"...Not until... You came down and caught me touching her... I used to get this way just by thinking of..." Timmy's gaze roamed over the woman's fingers on his chest, following the path made by her arm over to the rest of her body, and eventually came to rest on her striking pink eyes, which were still looking down at her hand laying on his chest. "...T-The other one..."

"Hm. Gotta be honest, Twerp. I've never felt anything like... _This_ , for someone. And you've got two of 'em. Two girls that make your heartbeat speed up and go a mile a minute..." She smiled a bit awkwardly as a wave of heat washed over her. She normally wasn't this affectionate and... And _normal_ with Timmy. "I'm a little jealous... Tootie and this... Other girl, they must be pretty special to you, huh?"

"I'm... Not making it too obvious, am I?" The brunet asked in a sarcastic yet playful tone.

Vicki chuckled, genuinely happy that Timmy wasn't as fearful of her as he had been when he was ten. "Heh... Only a little... Y'know, last time I got a guy's heart to speed up, it was to send all his blood to his dick."

"...Ricky?" Timmy asked hesitantly, wondering if merely mentioning the red-haired man's name was enough to earn Vicki's ire.

"Yeah." She replied in a somber tone, at last pulling her hand away from Timmy's chest. "You hear about guys like him, have only one thing on their mind... Well, two, I suppose. Money, and fucking... He only got the money, just so you know."

"You still pissed about that?" Again, Timmy's voice was laced with hesitation and nervousness. He _had_ technically been the one to introduce the two red-heads.

"I guess so... Or... I mean, not _really_. I've made back the money he stole from me ted-fold, and you couldn't see the future, no way for you to have known he'd be... How he was. I guess... What I'm trying to say is that I'm... Not mad at you, not at all." Vicki turned away from the brunet, starting to become uncomfortable with how emotional the conversation was making her.

"There's... a 'but' in there, right?"

Vicki responded with a mildly annoyed huff, then put her hands on her hips and looked down at the tile floor of the kitchen. " _But_... I haven't felt comfortable enough to let anyone else in, either. I don't want to think that he... Broke something inside, I'm just... Not sure if I want to risk getting hurt again, know what I mean?"

"I... Kind of..." Timmy admitted sheepishly. He really wished he could better empathize with the woman, but he'd never been in the situation that Vicki had. All his attempts to woo Trixie had failed miserably, and before the revelation that he had feelings for the red-head came, he simply hadn't tried dating anyone else. "Would... it be safe to say you're scared of getting hurt again? You thought you mattered to him, right?"

Vicki, her gaze still focused on the exit of the kitchen, reached behind her head and looped her fingers around her ponytail, pulling it over her right shoulder to play with some of the longer locks of hair. "...Maybe. I was a naïve sixteen year old girl who thought she finally met a guy with interests similar to her own..."

"Including torturing me." The brunet interjected in a flat tone, causing Vicki to look over her shoulder at him.

"I never said my interests were healthy. ...Or fair..." Vicki ran her hand through her fiery hair, fwipping her ponytail back behind her as she broke eye contact with the teen again. "For what little it's probably worth... I am sorry for treating you... How I did."

"Y-you are?" Timmy asked, no small amount of surprise in his voice. He hadn't necessarily forgiven the girl for her treatment of him when she was still his babysitter... Rather, he'd just decided not to hold it against her. It was a lot easier to like the pretty red-head without those lingering thoughts of her past cruelties eating at him. "To tell you the truth..." The teen took a few steps forward, each filled with hesitation, before stopping next to Vicki and looking to his right, the complete opposite direction the girl was in. "I kinda got over all that stuff you did a while ago." Timmy brought his right hand up to his nose, using his index finger to scratch at it; a mild nervous habit he had. "So... Would you maybe... I dunno... Wanna just bury the hatchet?"

Her interest well past being piqued, Vicki turned toward Timmy, finding he was still facing away from her. "And... What? Try to be friends?" Her tone was just shy of incredulous. _"Is he serious? Just... Let bygones be bygones and... Forgive me...?"_

"I..." The brunet-haired teen glanced to his left, meeting Vicki's eyes out of the corner of his own, and quickly turned his head away in embarrassment for having been caught peeking. "Couldn't hurt, right?"

"Aw..." The red-head, flashing a quick smile that she knew Timmy couldn't see, snaked her arm over the teen's shoulder and around his neck, putting him in a weak but firm headlock. "Aren't you sweet? You act all flustered and embarrassed around this other girl too? I don't see how she _couldn't_ have a thing for you, cuz I know Tootie would _love_ to see you all blushy like you are!" Vicki brought her free hand up to the top of Timmy's head and ground her knuckles into his hair.

"A-a-a-ah! Vicki! Lighten up!" The brunet whined as he felt Vicki knock his hat off his head, but almost instantly shut up as his cheek pressed against a _certain_ part of his ex-babysitter's anatomy. Namely her string bikini-clad right breast. _"I... I could get used to_ this _type of torture..."_

"Alright, Twerp!" Vicki shoved her victim away, leaving a mildly depressed look on the boy's face. She then picked his hat up off the floor and returned it to his head, giving it a slight adjustment as she backed away toward the exit of the kitchen. "Guess I could give being friends with you a shot, since you'll be my brother-in-law soon enough." She grinned evilly as she finished, then made her way out of the kitchen, calling over her shoulder upon seeing that Timmy wasn't following her. "Now c'mon! I distinctly remember you owing two beautiful women lunch at a restaurant of their choosing."

Timmy watched the girl leave, his eyes drifting down to her well-formed rear-end before it disappeared behind the door she went through. Currently, he was having a bit of trouble figuring out whether he should feel blessed or cursed. There was no doubt in the teenager's mind that his best friend of four years still had feelings for him. Tootie had made that crystal clear when she pressed herself against him and asked him to touch her...

And Vicki wanted to be _friends_? He'd normally be ecstatic about the idea, even if he didn't like the girl in the way that he did. Now though... Now he wasn't so sure if that was a good thing. He couldn't deny that he liked her, much like he couldn't deny that he felt... _Something_ for Tootie. "Agh! This is so _damn_ frustrating!" Timmy frantically scratched at his scalp with both hands, trying to will some sort of understanding into his head. "...Wish Cosmo and Wanda were around to give me some advice..."

Due to the so-called 'Timmy Turner Clause' written up by a certain muscle-bound fairy, along with some 'Fairy Council' that Timmy knew very little about, the teenaged brunet was not actually fairy-less. Cosmo and Wanda just usually had their hands full with Poof, and another baby on the way. The three fairies(well, four, but she hadn't been born yet) were on a vacation at the moment, one Timmy wished them on himself, since they deserved it. It was why he left 'I' out of the wish he made a few seconds earlier, he didn't want to bother them with something as trivial as figuring out his hormones. Yes, he was sure that they(or Wanda, at least) would help him figure things out, but he didn't want to seem _completely_ helpless, his fairy godmother doted on him enough already.

With a final, heavy sigh(though he was positive there were many more to come), Timmy made his way out of the kitchen, then the living room, and finally out of the house. He almost immediately frowned at the two Valentine sisters, now seated in Vicki's bright red sports car. Both grinned at him excitedly, with Tootie throwing in a wink, probably just to make him feel more nervous than he already did. _"Mission accomplished, Toots."_ "What are you two doing?"

"Waiting for you to get in the car so we can grab lunch!" Vicki punctuated the end of her sentence by honking her car's horn. "C'mon... I'm starving!"

The male teen jammed his hands into his pockets as he strode over to his ex-babysitter's car, his lips steadily curling up into a smug grin. "Then we'll have to take my car." Timmy jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the old station wagon, wood paneling and all.

" _That's_ a _car_?" The red-head stated in a disbelieving tone and squinted at the aforementioned vehicle. "Are... Are you sure? I thought it was some bizarre wood and metal work art project. That thing _runs_?"

"Shockingly enough, yes." Tootie answered in a helpful tone. "It's been in Timmy's family for over fifty generations!" The raven-haired girl began laughing at her own joke. Even she couldn't take Timmy's rust bucket of a car seriously.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Vicki, but doesn't your car only seat two? Where exactly would you two like me to sit?" Timmy leaned his arm on the car and bent down to give both sisters a knowing look, ignoring Tootie's comment about his car.

"Well, there's the trunk... Oh! Wait a minute!" Vicki snapped her fingers as a light bulb turned on in her head. "You can sit up front with me, and Toots can sit in your lap!"

"Your idea works fine until we go over a bump in the road, Sis." Tootie deadpanned, having a pretty good idea about how the male human body worked.

"Yes, because I'm _sure_ you don't want to sit on Timmy's lap..."

"I never said-! Wh-what makes you think wanna sit in his lap anyway?!"

" _What did I get myself into...?"_ "Alright, I dunno about you two, but I'm going to get some food, anyone who's hungry better get in the car." With that, Timmy pushed himself up and away from Vicki's car, spinning around to face his hand-me-down vehicle as he did. After a few steps, he heard two car doors open and shut behind him.

"This metal deathtrap kills us, I'll kill _you_." The red-head's voice came from his left, its owner making a clear attempt to overtake the teen's pace, judging by the rapidity of her footsteps.

"Don't worry Vicki, I can vouch that Timmy's an excellent driver." As she finished, Tootie hugged Timmy's right arm affectionately, earning her a shy smile from the brunet.

"Really? What a fascinating-Shotgun!" Vicki yelled as she darted past both teens, nearly leaping into the front passenger seat of Timmy's old station wagon.

"H-Hey! I wanted... Grr... You suck!" The raven-haired girl pouted at her quick-thinking sister as she released her friend's arm and climbed into the backseat, choosing to sit behind where Timmy would sit, rather than her sister.

"Hah! I'm sure the Twerp wishes that were the case!" The red-head teased as she crossed her legs and kicked her feet up onto the car's dashboard.

" _Must... resist... Perversion Impulse!"_ Timmy mentally chastised himself as he sat down in the driver's seat, his eyes drifting back and forth several times over Vicki's slender, pale-skinned legs. "You sure you don't wanna... Cover up?" Even with her modest breast size, Vicki's bikini top wasn't having the easiest time keeping the most interesting sight in the world in check.

Seemingly blowing off the brunet's question, the red-head leaned forward and grabbed a pair of sunglasses sitting on the dashboard. Timmy's sunglasses. "Why? Afraid I might distract you while you're driving?"

" _Why, yes Vicki, I think you will."_ "N-no! I meant that... You being shirtless kinda narrows our options when it comes to where we're gonna eat, that's all!"

"Pfft." Vicki slipped Timmy's sunglasses onto her face, giving an approving nod to her reflection in the rear-view mirror. "Then I guess they'll learn to regret coming between me and my lunch, won't they?"

" _This... May have been a bad idea..."_ With one final sigh(for this chapter anyway), Timmy stuck his key in the car's ignition and started his car, for once not having the energy to grin at the fact that it always started for him.


	4. Food and Subtext

A/N: Phew! Finally finished this chapter. Again, I apologize fr it being late... Well, to me, maybe you guys and girls are okay with my update speed. I'd really like to get these out a bit more often though, which is what I'm gonna _try_ to do, but I can't promise a whole lot. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, leave a review if you don't mind, and stay tuned for the next exciting installment, where our(heroes? Let's say heroes) finally go to the pool! Also, special thanks to everyone, and AnonymouslyKnown0 for helping to get the ideas flowing.

* * *

 _"This..."_ Timmy looked to his right at the passenger seat, or rather, the person _in_ the passenger seat. _"...is_ definitely _a bad idea."_ Currently seated to his right was the girl that some might say he was currently crushing on, Vicki Valentine.

And, for what had to be the fifth time inside of a minute, the brunet attempted to avert his eyes from the vision of beauty in said passenger seat, mostly because he'd veered into the oncoming lane three out of those five times. Yes, the red-head had quickly become a huge distraction for the hormonally imbalanced teenager. The main reason being her current attire... Or lack thereof. _"_ _Then again..."_ The sixteen year old glanced at the rearview mirror, spying the reflection of the girl in the backseat that he _thought_ was his best friend, who was currently engrossed with texting someone on her phone.

He _thought_ , because after Vicki had caught the two of them, with Timmy's hands practically all over Tootie, he wasn't quite sure if they were simply 'best friends' anymore... Or... No, Tootie was still his best friend, a somewhat heated and exciting moment wasn't going to change the fact that he still trusted the girl a great deal, but it was quite obvious to the brunet(even with him trying in vain to convince himself that it wasn't the case) that the raven-haired girl still had feelings for him. Strong feelings.

Unfortunately, Timmy had yet to confront and understand his own feelings for Tootie. He knew he enjoyed the heated moment in the kitchen... Not that 'enjoyed' did the moment justice, merely gliding his fingers over Tootie's skin had easily brought about one of the most intense feelings that he'd ever felt in his short sixteen years on Earth. It was exciting, but terrifying, he knew he shouldn't have done it, but he _really_ wanted to, and that desire eventually won out over his better judgment.

But... Was that it? Could the more hormonally imbalanced part of his brain simply want to sleep with Tootie? ...Did _Tootie_ just want to sleep with _him_? She certainly seemed to enjoy the more physical aspects of their friendship, and it had been quite some time since he'd heard the raven-haired girl say a certain 'L' word she was ever so fond of saying back when they were ten...

Timmy quickly turned his gaze back to the road as he saw Tootie begin to look up, though a barely stifled giggle from behind him indicated that she'd caught him staring anyway. The teen sighed as Vicki's words echoed in his mind again: 'What _are_ you doing?' _"I don't know."_

Seeing that the road ahead was mostly clear of traffic, Timmy eased on the gas pedal just a little, since the two girls in the car had yet to decide on where they'd be going for lunch. His eyes once again drifted to the rearview mirror, and his friend's reflection therein. At the moment, he preferred the red-head over her sister for who he'd rather have sitting up front with him... But that was only because it was easier for him to predict Vicki's actions than it was for him to predict Tootie's. Vicki seemed to be on her way to dozing off, and since she had no idea of the brunet's motives towards her... He was probably in the clear.

But if Tootie had been the one to call shotgun first, and thereby secure the seat next to him... Who knows what she'd do. The teen girl probably assumed that she had a bit more freedom to do whatever she wanted with Timmy, since he'd obviously enjoyed touching her, and Vicki was still under the assumption that they were dating.

Luckily for the decidedly _un_ lucky Timmy Turner, Tootie had gone back to texting, though he couldn't help but wonder if she was _really_ texting someone, trying to mess with him, or if she simply knew that he was checking her out, and was allowing him to do so _because_ she knew. Of course, being that he wasn't the type to turn down free eye candy(not even when he should be paying attention to more pressing concerns, like the _road_ ), Timmy's gaze slowly drifted over his friend's delicate form, taking in minute details that he'd never once concerned himself with before today.

With the girl wearing an old t-shirt, likely one that had shrunken from being washed and dried repeatedly over the years, the teen was able to see much of her arms, all the way up to the middle of her bicep. He'd never really thought to compare Vicki and Tootie's skin tones, but it was clear that, while both were fairly light-skinned, Tootie was a bit lighter than the red-head, probably due to Vicki enjoying sunbathing more than her sister. Also unlike Vicki, Tootie had significantly less freckles, the only visible ones being those on her nose, and even those were barely noticeable.

And Timmy noticed, much to his chagrin, that Tootie had... Curves. Nothing particularly significant for a sixteen year old, but she definitely had more curvy hips than Vicki did at sixteen, and the same could be said for her chest, her breasts being around the size that Vicki's were _now_. While Vicki was tall, Tootie was somewhat short. Where Vicki was more lean, Tootie was kind of filled out, though she couldn't be considered chubby or fat by any means.

"Gettin' ready to do a drive-by?" A sleepy-sounding voice drew the teen's gaze to his right, falling once more upon his ex-babysitter.

"Huh? I was... Thinking..." Timmy again turned his attention back to the road. The last thing he needed was for this outing with these two _very_ attractive girls to end in a car accident.

"About doing a drive-by? Or... Is it someone in this car who's on your mind?" Vicki, still wearing _his_ sunglasses, slid the eyewear down her nose, exposing her pink eyes to the brunet.

"I'm not doing a drive-by! ...Or looking at Tootie!" A pinkish tint appeared on Timmy's cheeks as Vicki's words sunk in. "I just figured I'd drive slower so you two could decide where we're going for lunch..."

"Oh right, I suppose we should figure that out." Using her index finger to push the pair of shades back up to cover her eyes, the red-head turned in her seat to talk to Tootie. "Any ideas, Toots?"

Stuffing her phone into her pocket, the raven-haired girl brought her index finger to her chin in thought. "Um... I could go for something... Oh! How 'bout Italian? Giovanni's?"

"Not with what you two are wearing..." Timmy muttered under his breath, pointing out the one reason that Vicki and Tootie's choice of attire was a hindrance to the three of them. The fact that they were both distracting him not being applicable, since he enjoyed the distraction.

"Oh, like you're all dressed up for a fancy meal yourself, Twerp." Vicki teased and rolled her eyes, her comment making the brunet look down at his own current attire, his trademark pink shirt and matching hat, and a pair of dark blue jeans.

"'Least some of us are _wearing_ shirts..." Again, Timmy muttered, though purposefully loud enough so that Vicki could hear him.

"Keep it up, maybe I'll strangle you with the one you're wearing." That familiar dangerous edge was back in the red-head's tone, but in truth, the threat was quite empty.

Unfortunately for Vicki, Timmy knew this. "Really? I had no idea you wanted to tear my shirt off me, Vicki. Got something you wanna confess?" An approving giggle from the backseat made Timmy's previously small grin break out into a full smile.

Upon hearing this(and knowing she was blushing herself) the red-head glared at her sister, who was now trying to cover up her little giggle fit with her hands over her mouth. " _Anyway_... The Twerp's got a point, they're not gonna serve me at the very least, and I'm hungry. 'Sides Tootie, you know it's impolite to take advantage of a friend's generosity, even if he _is_ a Twerp, he's still your boyfriend, and Giovanni's is expensive... Um... Why not Nasty Burger?"

"How 'bout because it's called _Nasty Burger_?" Tootie asked in obvious disgust.

"Y'ever been there?" Vicki raised an eyebrow at her sister.

"Well... No, Timmy, Chester, and AJ have, and Timmy got me a burger from there once..." The raven-haired girl admitted sheepishly.

Hearing his name, the teen glanced up at the rearview mirror again. "And you thought it was pretty good... 'Til I told you it was from Nasty Burger, then you just stopped eating it halfway through and threw it away." Timmy smirked at Tootie, who was now shooting him a death glare comparable to the ones he was accustomed to getting from Vicki.

"Aha! So you're just put off by the name! That's hardly fair, Toots. Why don't we take it to a vote-"

"Then again, there's also that new taco place that opened up." The brunet cut in, interrupting the girl to his right. "I think it's called-"

"Irrelevant, we're not having tacos, or anything spicy." It was Tootie's turn to interrupt, immediately shooting Timmy's idea down.

"Why not?" Again, Timmy glanced at Tootie's reflection in the rearview mirror.

"Wow, you really suck at being a boyfriend." Vicki deadpanned at the teen next to her.

"We aren't- I'm not her- That was-" The car's only male occupant sighed in exasperation, he was seriously considering smashing his forehead into the steering wheel a few times, but staved off the urge and managed to speak instead. "Would you care to enlighten me on why I'm such a terrible boyfriend then, Vicki?"

"Tootie hates spicy food. Even mildly spicy stuff really bothers her, I think she's just a wimp, but apparently her tongue has extra taste buds or something... I wasn't paying attention when the doctor mentioned what it was." The red-head spoke in a disinterested tone.

"Really Tootie?" _"She never told me that... And... I never asked..."_ Timmy couldn't help but wonder if Tootie simply hadn't told him because she thought it wasn't important, or if it was his fault for not showing an interest in his best friend's life and asking her. It was only now that he could remember all the times Tootie had turned down spicy food he offered her.

At the same time, he was really glad he talked Chester and AJ out of putting hot sauce in her milk back when they were in middle school.

"Sorry Tootie, I just figured you weren't in the mood whenever I offered... Never knew it was because of a medical condition..."

"No!" Tootie quickly pulled herself forward, using the driver's seat as leverage as she moved up into the space between the front seats, causing Vicki to sit back down in her own seat. "Nononono! It isn't like that!" Surprising herself(and Timmy, making him look right at her), the raven-haired girl brought her arm up and let it come to rest reassuringly on Timmy's shoulder. "It's not like I'd _die_ if I had spicy stuff, it just tastes much spicier to me, and I don't really like it. Guess... I never really thought it was all that important, so I never said anything."

"Oh, well... Alright then..." The teen; eyes still transfixed on Tootie, due to how close her face was, found that she, like her sister, had a rather unique eye color as well. Her irises were a somewhat vibrant shade of violet, not quite as striking as Vicki's pink eyes, but that may have been because of the glasses. _"Have they always looked like that? Am I only noticing now because I might actually, possibly..._ Like _her?"_

"Ugh! You two... Want me to take over driving? I'm sure there's enough room in the backseat and trunk to get in a quick screw. Nevermind undressing someone with your eyes, you two are already _fucking_ each other with your eyes..." Vicki spoke up, startling Tootie into retreating into the backseat, and causing Timmy to nearly instantly return his attention to driving down the street, a bright red blush visible on the faces of both teens. "Jeez, you could cut the sexual tension in here with a spoon..."

"S-so... Um... Have we... have we figured o-out where we a-all wanna eat?" Timmy nervously spoke up, hoping to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"I-I'm good with N-Nasty Burger. Uh... You two?" The raven-haired girl spoke up as she took out her phone and tried to look busy, hoping to make a(poor) attempt to hide her rosy cheeks.

"Th-That sounds good to m-me. Um... Vicki? Nasty Burger sound good to you?" Timmy's eyes stayed trained on the road, he was well beyond nervous now, and the last thing he needed was-

"Your face is red as a tomato..." Vicki ignored his question, opting instead to point out the obvious. "Which honestly surprises me, I'd have figured with two beautiful girls in the car, your blood would be heading somewhere... A little further south."

" _For Vicki to start her teasing again..."_ "Rather have two beautiful girls than a couple of whiny freeloaders." Timmy; finally getting his nervousness and light stutter brought on by said nervousness under control, made a playful teasing jab at Chester and AJ. His two friends never made him buy them lunch, but they _did_ think of him as their own personal chauffeur, one they could call on at all hours to give them a ride to... Wherever they needed to go. Sometimes school, sometimes the store, or the mall... Not to say he minded, not _really_ , but it was nice to be able to just complain about them to someone.

However, Vicki had only heard one part of Timmy's reply, the part where he called both Tootie _and_ her beautiful. The boy wasn't the type to miss a beat when she was fluffing her own feathers, usually he took the opportunity to throw in an insult, or at least disagree with her...

This time though... This time he'd definitely said she was beautiful... Or... He agreed with her statement, anyway. _"But am I making this out to be more than it is? He really could be just agreeing with me..."_ After a few more seconds of thought, Vicki scoffed and looked out the window, propping her head in her hand as she leaned her elbow against the car door. "Nasty Burger's closest, both to us and your house. I suggest we hurry, your brain's clearly on the fritz." _"And mine might be too, if I'm even entertaining this idea..."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" The brunet asked curiously as he glanced out of the corner of his eye at Vicki, noticing her sudden shift in position.

"...It's nothing, just letting my mind wander..." The red-head trailed off as she finished, pretending it was the scenery that held her attention, and not the more curious thoughts blooming in her mind.

" _Well that's not cryptic at all..."_ With a shrug, the teen turned into the parking lot of Nasty Burger. He knew from past experience that prodding Vicki wasn't the best way to extend one's life expectancy, so for now, he'd let her have her space. If she really had something important to say, she'd tell him at some point, he was certain of that fact.

"Hey!" Tootie shouted from the backseat, making her friend stomp the brake pedal and jump in mild surprise.

"Yeah, Toots?" Timmy looked into the backseat, now being able to do so without worry, since the car was stopped.

"Where're you going?" Tootie asked, a genuinely curious tone in her voice.

"The... Drive-thru? We agreed on Nasty Burger, remember?"

"Yeah, but why are you going through the drive-thru? We're not in any real hurry, why don't we eat inside?"

"Well... I dunno. I figured it'd make more sense to get the food and drive back to my house, eat there?" Again, Tootie's actions managed to surprise and confuse him. First she says she doesn't like Nasty Burger, then she wants to go inside the place she hates to eat?

"Ugh, I feel like a third wheel here..." Vicki groaned in annoyance. "You two could've told me this was a date, then I would've just gone over to Timmy's house and hopped in the pool by myself..."

"But then you would've missed out on a free lunch." Timmy added in helpfully, or so he thought.

"Except you two turn everything into a project!" The red-head laughed at the two teenagers, who were beginning to seem like a couple in everything but name, and to every _one_ except each other. "Just pick the drive-thru or eating in the restaurant so I can get some food in my belly!"

"Alright, since Tootie wants to, I guess; we'll eat inside." Turning his car back toward the building, the teen pulled into a parking space right by the door, and right next to a handicapped spot.

Vicki; now thoroughly tired of waiting, opened her door first and practically leapt out of the car, immediately stretching her arms and legs once she was out. "Sure you don't want the handicapped one?"

"No, I'm not handicapped." Timmy deadpanned as he got out himself and opened Tootie's door for her so she could as well, earning him a quick 'thanks' from his friend. "Sides, it's illegal to park in those spaces, much as I'm sure you love to do."

"What can I say? I'm a rebel... And as for your handicap? This car." Vicki tapped her fist against the old station wagon's hood. "If it weren't for Tootie, you driving this rust bucket around would pretty much guarantee that you keep your virgin card." With that, the red-head marched past Timmy and her sister, yanking the door to the fast-food restaurant open and heading inside while they looked on.

"You think she'll get refused since she's not wearing a shirt?" Tootie asked in an overly curious tone, bordering on sounding like a naïve little girl asking one of her parents how the world worked.

"Not if the employees value their lives-" Timmy froze up as he felt a light thud on his left shoulder, then turned his head slightly to find Tootie's face inches from his, her lips curled up into a cute little smile, which was soon followed by the feeling of the girl's arms looping around his left forearm. _"Thank you, Universe. I wasn't quite sure if Tootie still liked me, but this? Yeah, this tells me everything I need to know..."_ "So... Um, nice weather today, huh?" Timmy tried to act nonchalant and indifferent about the girl's sudden closeness, but he was almost positive Tootie could see through his act. She tended to pick up on little tells he didn't even know he had.

"S'aright." The girl shrugged, tickling Timmy's arm as both of hers brushed against it. "Bit hotter than I'd like, and it's not even noon yet, which means it'll only get hotter-and I saw you staring at me in the mirror."

It took only a moment for his friend's words to sink in, making Timmy's blush return in full force as he snapped his head to the right, away from the girl who was very nearly hanging off of him now. A few seconds passed before the teen released a sigh, knowing there was no way for him to get out of his current situation. "Of course you did... How could you not?"

Tootie, picking up on the slight anguish in her crush's voice, hugged his arm a bit tighter. "So what's wrong with that? I don't mind you checking me out... I think you know that better than anyone..."

The teen let his gaze slowly drift back to Tootie, still unsure in regards to what was going on with his _very_ screwed up emotions. "What's _wrong_ is that I like Vicki. I asked your for your dad's permission to date _Vicki_. Tootie, for the past few months, the only girl I've thought about romantically has been _Vicki_."

"...And?" The girl raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

"What do you mean 'and'? You know what the problem is, Tootie. After what happened in the kitchen, I can't help but look at you and..." Timmy paused, wondering if it was such a good idea to tell the girl that, after eight-ish years of on and off friendship, he might actually like her... As more than just a friend. He'd have to tread carefully here, and to do that, he needed a bit of confirmation from the girl. "Do... do you still like me?"

"Is that even a serious question? You think I'd be right here holding your arm if I _didn't_ like you?" The raven-haired girl spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone. Obviously, she was quite certain of her feelings for him.

And he had to admit, his conflicted feelings felt slightly less burdened now that he knew for sure that Tootie liked him... He still had more questions for her though... "But... But what about Chester? The deal we had? You help me with Vicki, and I help you with him?"

"Timmy, no offense, but... You're not so naïve that you think I'm incapable of lying, are you?" Tootie grinned, honestly just happy that she could be so close to her longtime crush without him pushing her away, despite him knowing that her adoration for him was still alive and well. "You really didn't think about all those times I hugged you? People who are 'just friends' don't nuzzle cheeks ya know..."

"Well... I guess not, but... You've always been like that with me. I just figured you were an affectionate person..." The brunet glanced down at his still captive arm. He found he was oddly content to stay like this, with Tootie holding his arm like she was. While he was generally put off by Tootie's more forward advances... He could certainly get used to her being calm like this...

" _Except_ , have I _ever_ been like that to anyone _but_ you?"

The raven-haired girl had a good point there. Thinking back, it was exactly why her telling him that she liked Chester surprised him. The news was very much out of the blue; she went from almost never mentioning their blond friend(unless they were all together) to talking about him at length in the span of a few days. Whether it was what he liked to do after school, his hobbies, if she could have his phone number...

A definite silver lining, the brunet realized, was that he hadn't yet told Chester about the girl's feelings, and what a silver lining it was. Either the blond would get all hyped up just to find out that Tootie didn't feel that way, or, even worse, he'd think that Timmy was now trying to steal Tootie back. "...I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am."

Tootie chuckled at the look of understanding painted all over her crush's face. "Heheh... No, probably not. ...Still, I am sorry for lying to you, even if it was just a little one. Forgive me?"

" _Like she even needs to ask?"_ Timmy watched as Tootie's eyes widened, giving him that innocent stare and making it look like the girl would cry if he said no. "Agh... Alright, alright! I wasn't even mad in the first place, no need to give me _that_ look..." The teen hung his head defeatedly. "So... What now?"

"Now? Now we have lunch! I'm starving too, y'know!" The raven-haired girl at last released Timmy's arm and took a step back, hard as the action was for her to do.

"No, I mean... Tootie, I still like Vicki, that fact hasn't changed." He turned to look at her now, his back to the restaurant.

"But you like me too, right?" Tootie leaned forward in a playful manner, hands behind her back.

"...I dunno... May...be?" Timmy's face flushed red as he spoke, yet was somehow able to keep from slapping his hands over his mouth this time. "I mean... I like being around you, and I trust you; you're my best friend..."

"And I know you liked what happened in the kitchen, _and_ I know you've been checking me out since it happened..." She teased him, absolutely loving how flustered she was making him.

"I... I just don't know right now... I get that you like me, and I know I like Vicki, just like I know that I... Enjoyed what happened earlier today..." The brunet paused. He honestly wished he had more time to figure himself and the two sisters out, but he wasn't about to bug Cosmo and Wanda while they were on vacation, and time-influencing wishes had the habit of almost always backfiring on him anyway. Which brought another idea to his mind: Could he maybe just _tell_ Tootie he needed more time to figure things out? There was no way she wouldn't eventually tell him to choose her or Vicki, and there was no doubt in his mind that choosing the red-head over her sister would irreparably damage his relationship with her... "Tootie... I know I feel... _Something_ , okay? But... This is a bit much for me to take in right now, so... Could we maybe talk about it later?" He hated how much he was hesitating lately. Feeling unsure about everything... It annoyed the teen to no end, so he could imagine how he was making Tootie feel, or even Vicki! What with not even being able to just decide on where they'd have lunch...

Tootie crossed her arms, then brought her right hand up to her chin in thought, using her left arm to support her right. On the one hand, she really wanted Timmy to say that he liked her, all those years of chasing him were _so_ close to paying off!

Yet, on the other hand, she didn't want to put Timmy in such an uncomfortable position as she now had. She'd been the one to listen to him gush about how he got this weird feeling around her sister, just as she'd agreed to his plan to request her dad's permission to date Vicki, and just as she knew the way Timmy's heart rate sped up when he thought about Vicki. That was one place that, to her knowledge, her older sister had her beat. If she wasn't one-hundred and ten percent sure that Timmy liked her the same way he liked Vicki, then there was little point in pursuing a relationship with him, they'd have their fun, then likely go their separate ways when what little romance there was fizzled out, and she definitely didn't want that. _"Maybe... I could..."_ A devious plan wormed its way into the raven-haired girl's head, making her mentally grin. "You know what? I think you're right. I've... I probably need to give this a little bit more thought myself, and I'm not exactly making this easy on you, so yeah, let's take some time to figure each other out, 'kay?"

"R-really? You're okay with it?" The brunet stared at her, mouth agape and barely believing that Tootie had really said what she did.

"Well, I _do_ have a bit of an advantage. Vicki doesn't even know you like her, but I most certainly know you feel 'something', as you put it, for me. So for now, that's good enough." Tootie shrugged and stepped toward Timmy, then passed him and pulled the entrance door to Nasty Burger open. "Seriously though, I need food, or I'm gonna collapse." She offered a warm smile to her friend as she finished, not leaving even a hint to the plan she was currently formulating.

"And... You're _really_ okay with this?" The brunet moved toward the door Tootie held open for him, clearly intending that he go in first.

"Yes!" The girl laughed at Timmy's overly cautious behavior, giving him a light kick in the rear as he passed her. "Just buy me lunch already!"

 _Inside Nasty Burger..._

"Um... Miss?" The cashier shot the red-head before him an odd look. In truth, he probably should've refused to serve her, considering her attire, but the manager was out at the moment, and business had been pretty dead today, so he figured: why not overlook a rule or two?

That being said, he was beginning to wonder if serving this girl was such a good idea. She'd been contemplatively staring at the menu above him for close to ten minutes now, and while she _was_ the only customer, he ran the risk of getting chewed out by either his manager or a supervisor if he didn't deal with customers in a timely fashion.

"Hm... What are they waiting for...?" Vicki muttered under her breath, though unfortunately still loud enough for the lanky, dark-haired cashier behind the counter.

"Uh, what was that? I couldn't quite-" The cashier began to lean forward to try and hear this odd woman better.

"I'm ready to order, but I'm waiting for my sister and this guy she likes." Vicki cut him off. Were she still a teenager, she might think the blue-eyed guy to be cute, though the thin strip of facial hair on his chin made him look a bit stupid. Yet... he seemed somehow familiar, she'd certainly seen him somewhere... _"Maybe one of the kids I used to babysit?"_ Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the door she had come in through open again, making her turn her head and watch as Timmy and Tootie finally came into the restaurant. "Took you two long enough. Order your food so I can stop standing here like an ass."

"Right... Um... Ladies first?" Timmy offered to the raven-haired girl, eliciting a facepalm from Vicki.

" _Great, forty_ more _minutes of these two going back and forth, telling the other to go first... Shit, I'd rather hang out with Heather than these two..."_ However, much to Vicki's surprise, Tootie took Timmy up on his offer, responding with nary more than a small smile as she stepped up to the counter. _"Something happened."_ The red-head turned her attention to Timmy, noticing a somewhat glazed-over look in his eyes. The telltale sign that he was deep in thought about... Something. Usually something important, in her experience with the brunet's mannerisms. "You gonna propose to her or something?"

After a few moments of silence, Timmy glanced around at his surroundings, realizing that Vicki had asked him something, and he'd completely missed it. "Sorry... What? I was... N-nevermind, it's stupid. What were you saying?"

"I asked if you-" Vicki sighed tiredly, for once not quite feeling up to teasing the boy. "Forget it, I wanna ask you something."

The teen raised an eyebrow in curiosity, expecting Vicki to ask her question, but opted to speak up when it was clear she wasn't going to. "Alright... Shoot."

Leaning a little bit closer to the brunet, the red-head pointed past Tootie at the cashier she'd kept waiting for so long. "That guy seem familiar to you? I could swear I've seen him somewhere, but I can't quite place him..."

"Why am I not surprised..." Timmy mumbled to himself, not realizing that Vicki's current proximity meant she could easily hear him.

A fact the girl was keen to remind him of by roughly pinching his cheeks with both hands and pulling on them, eliciting a loud cry of pain from the teen. "Remember who you're talking to, Twerp."

"Ah! Ow! Le-lemme go! I was just saying that you barely remember most people you meet, unless there's a good reason for you to! Ah, Vicki...!" Timmy's hands fell over his tormentor's, pushing her hands closer to his cheeks so she at least wasn't stretching them.

"And I'm well on my way to forgetting that you want to be friends with me!" With the teen keeping her hands pinned at his cheeks, Vicki began twisting the skin she was pinching back and forth, earning more whiny cries of pain from her target. "Now tell me if you know who he is before I rip your cheeks off!"

Looking past the raven-haired girl who was currently making a valiant effort to order her food amid the loud commotion behind her, the cashier glanced back and forth between her and the strange fight going on behind her. "Um... You wanna help that guy out or...?"

"Hm?" Tootie looked over her shoulder at Timmy and Vicki, briefly scoffing at their behavior before turning her attention back to the menu. "Nah, he's just messing around, and she won't _really_ hurt him... Probably." The girl looked at the cashier's nametag, indicating his name as 'Chip'. "...Your last name wouldn't happen to be Skylark, would it?"

The dining room of Nasty Burger suddenly fell silent as Vicki slapped her hand over Timmy's mouth, silencing his cries as she looked over her shoulder and shot the cashier a glare that could turn anyone's spine to ice. Very brittle ice. "Skylark? _Chip_. _Skylark_?" With her annoyance focused on someone who she felt was more deserving of it, Vicki released the brunet and turned completely around to face the pop-star she once had a massive crush on, her mouth twisted into a murderous grin.

"Uh... N-no, I'm- I'm Chip... Um... Sobchak! Yeah! Chip Sobchak! I've... heheh... Been told I look... a lot... like..." Chip shrank back behind the register as Vicki stepped closer. He was completely overcome with terror as the memories of this woman came flooding back. The last time they'd met, she kidnapped him, and his terror only grew as he realized there was absolutely _no_ way she didn't know that 'Icky Vicki' was a song he'd written about her. "Ohgodpleasedontkillme!"

Vicki; feeling downright gleeful at how fearful she made Chip with nothing more than a glare, reached over the cash register and curled her fingers around the twenty-something year old's shirt collar, pulling him up from behind the counter until his face was mere inches from hers. "Gotta say, Chip. This is the last place I expected to run into you... How's that singing career going?"

"N-not uh... Not well... I'm ah... Kind of in a bit of a songwriting slump right now, just um... Trying to make ends meet...?" Chip's voice raised several octaves in the span of his sentence, nearly reaching a high-pitched squeak as he finished. He audibly gulped under Vicki's scrutinizing gaze, hoping against hope that she wouldn't kill him... Much as he probably deserved it.

"Hmph." After a few seconds, the red-head stood up straight and frowned, releasing the ex-pop star and causing him to drop onto the floor, landing on his rear-end. "...Were I still sixteen, I might be tempted to shove the business end of a spatula up your ass... But knowing your career's over... Well, I think that's more than I could've hoped for, so how 'bout you just take our order?"

"I- Uh... I can d-do that..." Chip pushed himself up off the floor and straightened his shirt collar out. "What... What can I get you three?"

 _A few minutes later..._

"Was that _really_ necessary?" Tootie asked as she poked at her cheeseburger with a plastic fork, evidently still debating whether or not she wanted to eat it.

"Huh?" The red-head glanced to her left at her sister, mouth agape, as she had been about to take a bite out of her own burger. "Was what really necessary?"

"I think she means making Chip crap his pants." Timmy spoke up before taking a sip from his drink.

"Oh _that_..." Vicki nodded in understanding. "Yes, it was necessary. That jackass made money off of a song that made me internationally known as a cruel, heartless person-"

"Not to mention he insinuated that you were Icky!" Timmy interjected in an almost gleeful tone. Not because he thought Vicki was Icky, but because he really, honestly enjoyed watching Vicki scare the Hell out of the once-popular singer... Actually, he got a thrill out of watching her scare most people, the fact that it was Chip was just a bonus, really. He was also pretty happy that neither the red-head nor Chip seemed to remember any involvement he had in that song.

"Right?" Vicki smirked at the brunet diagonally across from her, happy that he was taking her side in this situation. "See? Timmy's got my back on this one. You have any idea what that kind of attention can do to an insecure sixteen year old girl?"

Tootie rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of her sister's statement, but the brunet couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt upon hearing his ex-babysitter's words. "It... Did it really bother you _that_ much?"

"What? No!" Vicki laughed off Timmy's concern. "C'mon Timmy, do I _really_ look like some delicate little flower? I know I'm like, an eleven in terms of looks-"

"And so _very_ modest." Tootie deadpanned sarcastically.

"Aw, that's sweet of you to say, Sis!" The red-head responded in stride, feeling far too pleased with herself to let Tootie's sarcasm get to her. "But no, that moron's song didn't bother me that much, I even thought it was catchy, for a little while. Still, he used my name without permission, my likeness without permission, _and_ both were used to make me out as being this evil heartless bitch! That's slander, no two ways about it." The pink-eyed girl shrugged as she finished, then bit into her burger.

"Isn't it only slander if it turns out that whatever you're being accused of _isn't_ true?" Tootie questioned, knowing full well that said question would probably draw Vicki's ire to her.

"Well, since we're not in court, and I'm not as well versed in the legal system as I used to be, I couldn't tell you for sure one way or the other, but he'd have to prove that I was indeed 'Icky', at the very least. I know Timmy doesn't think that, so do you?" The red-head smirked at her sister, waiting for Tootie to misspeak, not unlike a viper waiting to strike its prey.

"Yeah, I'm not stepping on that bear trap." The raven-haired girl shook her head back and forth. "And how exactly do you know that Timmy doesn't find you 'Icky'? He may have pointed out that the song suggests you are, but that doesn't mean he doesn't think you are."

"I already know Timmy won't call me icky; reason number one being that he values his life too much to say something like that to my face, and reason number two being... I mean-" Rather than continue speaking, Vicki gestured at herself with her hand, specifically her bikini top and lack of a shirt. "Nevermind him, you really think _anyone_ could find me icky while I'm dressed like this?" Though her body was predominantly facing Tootie, Vicki glanced to her right at the brunet with a grin, knowing she was right.

"Th-That's not fair!" Timmy nearly yelled as his cheeks turned cherry-red. "I- I wouldn't be checking you out so often if you were wearing a shirt!"

"Oh my..." Vicki grinned at the teen evilly as she turned away from her sister to face him instead. "Now _this_ is interesting... I was only teasing, but you're saying you _have_ been checking me out? Tootie, are you hearing what I'm hearing?"

" _Dammit, me! You just couldn't keep your fat dumb mouth shut, could you?!"_ Timmy mentally screamed at himself. While it was certainly true that he liked both sisters, the last thing he needed was for them to start fighting in the middle of Nasty Burger, or worse, for them both to simply kill him! "Uh- No, I wasn't- I was just saying that you- I mean, I- I... Should just shut up now..." The brunet butted his forehead against the table several times, then simply let it rest on the table, his eyes squeezed shut for his inevitable demise.

"Oops. Think I broke him, Toots?" Vicki chuckled as she turned her attention back to her sister, who was currently sipping from her straw calmly, relatively indifferent to the situation at their table.

The girl responded to her sister's question with a shrug. It wasn't as if she didn't know that Timmy liked the red-head, though Vicki herself obviously still didn't. Tootie also knew that her older sister was very likely just teasing the brunet, considering it was one of her favorite pastimes. Placing her drink down onto the table, the younger Valentine released a sigh. "Vicki, since Timmy's buying us _both_ lunch, don't you think you could try being a _little_ nicer?"

"Ugh..." Vicki groaned loudly and dramatically. "You just _love_ to ruin my fun and get all 'serious'." She turned away from Tootie once again to face the brunet, whose head still remained down on the table. "Jeez, Twerp, lighten up. I'm just messing around, I know you can't control your hormones. If I'm being honest, I'd be insulted if you _didn't_ stare now and then. It's kind of... An ego boost, really." Vicki extended her leg under the table, giving Timmy's left leg a gentle nudge.

With the realization that he was once again making a huge fool out of himself, Timmy leaned back and sighed, using both hands to rub at his temples. "Never thought hanging out with the two of you would be so stressful..."

"Really? You thought spending time with your girlfriend and her sister; who was also your babysitter and tortured you on a daily basis, would be a _calming_ experience? You can't seriously be _that_ naïve..." The red-head took another bite of her burger as she finished.

"No, I just figured you'd lighten up on the teasing a bit, that's all..." Timmy admitted in a somewhat sad tone.

"Ah... C'mon, don't get all..." Vicki huffed and rolled her eyes. _"Leave it to the Twerp to take all the fun out of teasing... Suppose I should try being_ a little _nicer, since he doesn't hold a grudge for all that crap I put him through... Fuck, do I actually feel bad?!"_ "Look, I'm sorr- ...I'll try to be nicer, alright?" The red-head felt her cheeks heat up; apologizing wasn't exactly something she was all that familiar with.

"Wow, Sis! You almost had it there!" Tootie beamed at Vicki excitedly, taking the opportunity to get in some teasing of her own.

"Shut up..." The older Valentine's blush darkened a little, making her attempt to hide it by bringing her hand up to her face and leaning on her elbow. "I'm not used to apologizing or being nice, but since it was _his_ idea to try and be friends... I'm trying, alright?!" Vicki quickly turned back to face Tootie as she finished, her blush now rivaling the one Timmy's face bore a few minutes ago.

"Aw... I know!" Tootie smiled at her older sister sweetly, then scooted her chair a bit closer to her. "But being nicer is a gradual process, so remember, baby steps, Sis." With that, the raven-haired girl leaned over and looped her arms around the red-head, hugging the very rarely hugged girl.

"What're you-?!" Vicki stared down at her sister with a look of utter shock, though her lips were beginning to curl up into a slight grin. "Tootie, lemme go-" The red-head cut herself off as she began to giggle and try to push her sister away, though to no avail, as anyone who knew Tootie knew that there was no escaping one of her hugs. Once she had you, all you could do was wait it out. "Quit it! You-Your hair is tickling me-e-e!"

As this scene played out, Timmy did little but stare. He knew that he'd meant to say something, but the thought had evidently been lost somewhere between going from a thought to actual words, leaving the brunet to simply watch with his mouth slightly agape. His gaze slowly drifted downward, briefly settling on Vicki's chest, before falling on Tootie, who, upon noticing his stare, winked at him and smirked slyly. _"...You know what? Fuck you, Universe."_


	5. Twice the Teasing

A/N: So... How's everyone doing? I uh... May have mislead you all, just a bit. See, you're all expecting stuff(and people) to get... Well, wet. Sorry, but that ain't happening this chapter... Hey! No! Put down your torches and pitchforks! I mean it! You drive me outta here or kill me, y'all definitely aren't getting the pool chapter. Anyway, it will most certainly be the next chapter, I promise, but I wanted to put a few ideas in the characters' heads, so I wrote this out. Um... Enjoy?

* * *

Timmy glanced down at the paper his burger had once been wrapped in. The burger itself, along with much of his lunch, was now gone, the only things left being a couple of stray fries, a smear of ketchup, and his drink, which probably amounted to another sip or two. The same could be said for Vicki's lunch, and even Tootie's! After finally releasing the red-head from her hug/one-sided tickle fight, the younger girl had apparently forgotten all about her distaste for the Nasty Burger name, and dug into her lunch with all the fervor of someone who'd been complaining about how hungry they were.

Unfortunately, the trio's lunch had been(and still was) pervaded by a rather pregnant and tense silence, one that irked the young brunet to no end, yet seemed to go relatively unnoticed by the girl sitting across from him.

The uncomfortable silence seemed to have been caused by Tootie in the first place, or rather, the aforementioned hug/one-sided tickle fight. The teen was almost positive that his friend was trying to put on some kind of show, though whether the goal had been to playfully shame her sister, or tease him with certain... naughty imaginings, he wasn't sure.

What Timmy Turner _was_ sure of, was that Vicki was in a _very_ foul mood; or she seemed to be, anyway, as she'd barely even looked at Tootie since she was released from the hug, she'd even opted to get out of her chair and sit next to _him_ , rather than her own sister!

Seeing the girl across from him take out her phone and begin texting someone again, Timmy chanced a quick look at the red-head, noticing her arms, crossed in annoyance, and her head, turned away from their table and far to her left, apparently staring at the drink fountain. Leaning forward, the male teen also took notice of a barely-there blush on his ex-babysitter's cheeks, and from what little he could see of her face, she didn't _appear_ to be angry, though she was definitely frowning. "Vicki-"

"Anybody thirsty?" Tootie suddenly interrupted, grabbing her empty cup. "I'mma get a refill and throw out my trash. Timmy? Sis? Want me to-"

"I'll take care of it, Tootie." Vicki spoke up, a mildly annoyed tone evident in her voice, though her gaze remained fixed on the drink machine.

"Jeez, somebody's feeling like a Grumpypants..." The raven-haired girl pouted at her sister's response, then turned back toward the brunet. "Timmy, want me to toss your trash and grab you a refill?"

"Hm?" His attention having been so focused on the red-head, Timmy barely noticed his friend was speaking to him until he noticed her grabbing his cup out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, um... Yeah. Thanks, Toots." The teen waited until the girl made her way over to the drink fountain and hopefully out of earshot before speaking up again. "Vicki? Are... You alright? You've been kinda quiet since... Uh..."

"Mind your own business, Twerp." The red-head growled out venomously, her tone ominous and threatening enough to make Timmy flinch.

"Um... O-Okay..." Figuring that the girl was indeed pissed about what had happened, the brunet turned his body away from her, opting instead to focus on the empty seat across from him, though after a few seconds, his focus was once more drawn to his ex-babysitter, this time by a weary-sounding sigh.

"Shit... I'm doing it again..." Vicki mumbled as she finally turned in her seat, casting her gaze away from the drink machine(and by extension, Tootie), and instead chose a position that mirrored Timmy's: staring straight ahead at the empty seat across from her. "Sorry... And... I really mean that, just so we're clear... I'm not mad at you... Seems I still have some growing up to do, if blaming you is my emotional default with every little problem I have..." The red-head leaned forward a little, propping her head up in her hand as her elbow came to rest on the table. "Hell, I don't even know if I'm _angry_ in the first place..."

Timmy couldn't help but chuckle at his ex-babysitter's confusion. "Wow, that must be tough."

"The Hell's so funny?" Vicki narrowed her eyes at the teen sitting next to her.

"The fact that you, of all people, aren't sure if you're angry or not." Timmy covered his mouth as his giggling increased, earning him a glare from the red-head.

However, she soon found that it was remarkably difficult to maintain such a threatening look amid the sixteen year old's giggling, and laughed somewhat lightly herself. She came to the realization that, for someone like her, who'd always been so angry in her youth; at times being ready to rip someone's head off at the drop of a hat, it _was_ fairly comical for her to question if she was angry or not. Uncertainty did not become Victoria Valentine, not in her eyes, anyway. "You're still such a Twerp... Even if you _are_ right..."

Timmy looked past the red-head, watching her younger sister repeatedly mash her finger on the soda fountain's touch screen. "So... Wanna tell me what's bothering you before Tootie comes back?"

"Enh..." Vicki released a moan that might be considered as sounding pained as she glanced at her raven-haired sister. "Do I really have to explain it to you?" She turned back to Timmy, focusing her pink eyes on his blue ones.

"What? The hug?" He couldn't help but chuckle again. What possible reason could Vicki have for being so uncomfortable with a hug? Was she so starved for affection that such an act was alien to her? Did she perhaps dislike being touched? ...No, she never had a problem touching him, and he'd even placed his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner earlier that day... Was it the tickling? She _had_ laughed and giggled cutely during the hug, and everyone in Nasty Burger(amounting to our trio and the establishment's employees) had surely heard her, but no one was teasing her for it... So what could it be?

After a few more seconds of thinking, and coming up with nothing, Timmy decided it was probably just easier to ask what the issue was. Except-

"Don't give me that crap, you _know_ what I'm talking about." Except Vicki was all too happy to interrupt him as she lowered her tone to a whisper, thankful that Timmy was as close as he was, and that her sister was apparently technologically challenged when it came to soda fountains. "I may have been focused on the fact that my sister was sexually assaulting me, but that doesn't mean I didn't notice how entranced you were by it!"

The teen watched his ex-babysitter's face slowly go from a light shade of pink to a much more obvious scarlet color as she finished. _"So_ that's _what's bothering her..."_ "Um... Sexually assaulted? Vicki, a lot of people do what Tootie did, it's called a hug-"

"No. Nuh-uh. You shut your face right now!" Vicki's whispered out harshly, her previously annoyed look turning into something more akin to a murderous glare, like the one she'd given Chip. " _That_... That was _not_ a hug. I've gotten hugs before-" She paused as a look of clear disbelief came over the brunet's face. "D-Don't give me that look! I have! My... Mom has hugged me... And Tootie too! Hell, _you_ even hugged me when we thought we were gonna freeze to death!" Unfortunately, it was only after the words slipped past her lips that Vicki had the presence of mind to slap her hands over her mouth, realizing she'd just brought up the incident that her and Timmy had agreed to never speak of again.

And upon hearing the girl bring up the nearly forgotten incident, Timmy's face turned a shade of red that nearly matched hers. "Th-that was different! I-I thought... I thought we were gonna die! It... It only made sense for us to..." The teen's voice trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. With the way things were going with him and Tootie, the chances of him ever getting that close to Vicki again were becoming smaller and smaller.

The red-head, noticing the uncertainty in Timmy's body language, and the way he'd simply stopped talking, released a huff through her nose. "...Who am I kidding? I was just as scared that I'd die too. Certainly wasn't _you_ that tackled _me_ to the ground..."

To be fair, she hadn't necessarily tackled him _to the ground_ , though she'd definitely tackled him, and wrapped her arms and legs around him... Timmy felt a wave of heat wash over him as he realized just how intimate such a position would be now. "...Maybe we should just agree that it was a desperate situation, and those kinds of situations tend to require desperate measures to get out of."

"R-right." Vicki nodded in quick agreement with Timmy. Anything that happened between them in the past was supposed to be buried and forgotten. They'd both agreed to try and turn a new page in regards to their relationship, give friendship a chance... "T-that doesn't mean you're off the hook! What Tootie did was _not_ a hug! ...Not the kind a girl gives to her sister, anyway... And! And all you did was watch with a glazed-over look in your eyes!"

"...Ever think maybe you're just taking Tootie's affectionate nature at more than just face value?" The brunet quirked an eyebrow up at the red-head. Yes, Tootie had hugged her, which quickly turned to tickling, thanks to the raven-haired girl's pigtails, and yes, Tootie had given him a not-so-subtle wink as she hugged Vicki, but all of that fell pretty much in line with her mannerisms. It certainly couldn't be considered sexual assault, like Vicki was suggesting...

"Y'ever think you're a Twerp who's turned on by the idea of your girlfriend motorboating her older sister's boobs?" The older girl shot back without missing a beat, her previous annoyed glare returning to her face, though the murderous aspects of it were now thankfully absent.

"Okay, now I'm _positive_ you're exaggerating. 'Motorboating'? Tootie was _not_ motorboating your... Uh..." The teen's gaze dropped south, falling on the two mounds of flesh that had been many a hero's downfall.

"Boobs, Timmy. These are called _boobs_." Vicki brought her hands in front of her chest, allowing them to hover just under the bottom of her green bikini. "And while I understand that they're _very_ interesting. I once again feel the need to tell you that I need you to focus. ...On _not_ my boobs!" Another harsh whisper, this one being just forceful enough to make the brunet refocus his attention on the girl's face.

"Sorry, I- ...Why couldn't you just wear a shirt?!" The teen honestly couldn't believe he was complaining about Vicki, the girl he was crushing on, _not_ wearing a shirt. Most guys would be ecstatic if the girl they liked chose to walk around in a bikini all day, but now she was using his hormones against him, and that just wasn't fair.

"Cuz it's a free country, I'll wear whatever the Hell I want. Not to mention, I wasn't planning on getting lunch when I took my shower this morning, the only definite for me was going over to your house to jump in the pool, and you know what I _don't_ need to go swimming in your pool?" Vicki, now coming to the definite conclusion that she had an entirely new way to tease and torture her Twerp, crossed her arms under her chest and looked at the boy expectantly.

"I... Guess you wouldn't need a shirt..." Timmy admitted with a sigh of defeat.

" _Exactly_. So riddle me this, then. Do _you_ know what's going on with Tootie's head? Cuz I certainly fuckin' don't." Vicki shrugged, shaking her head back and forth. "I'll admit, maybe, _maybe_ I exaggerated _a little_ just now, _maybe_ Tootie wasn't motorboating my boobs-"

"Can we _please_ stop using that term?!" The brunet interrupted, his voice raising a few octaves.

"What? Motor-"

"Yes! _That_ term!" Timmy's blush continued to decorate his face, eliciting a chuckle from the red-head in front of him.

"Right... Forgot how much of a prude you are... Fine, Tootie wasn't doing that, necessarily, but she _did_ have her head between my boobs, with her cheek pressed against my chest! That is _not_ a sisterly hug. And what's worse is that I- I..." Vicki paused, feeling no small amount of heat rush to her cheeks.

"You...? What?" The teen moved a bit closer, thinking that was what his ex-babysitter wanted, so she could whisper something to him.

Vicki realized, much to her chagrin, that while the odd hug her sister had given her had certainly surprised her, and made her giggle like a giddy little schoolgirl from being tickled, she wasn't embarrassed because she'd giggled in such a way in public, nor was it the action of being hugged that bothered her.

No, what truly embarrassed the normally unflinching and confident red-head was the fact that she _enjoyed_ the hug. Maybe it was due to her being a stranger to affectionate gestures, but physical contact with Tootie had brought a certain... Tingly feeling to Vicki. Specifically the area of her chest that her sister had nuzzled her cheek against. Even now, the space between her breasts felt the slightest bit warmer than the rest of her. It wasn't a _bad_ feeling, yet neither was it good. Just... Odd.

But this was something she definitely couldn't tell Timmy about! Sure, you were supposed to enjoy hugs, but get _tingly_ from them?! Especially when it was from your little sister?! No, definitely not.

"Hello~? Vicki? You're doing that thing that I'm always doing..." Timmy snapped his fingers in front of Vicki's face a few times, trying to get her to come back to reality.

Which seemed to work, as the older girl eventually focused her eyes on Timmy's hand, then shook her head a few times before pinching the bridge of her nose. "I _must_ be losing it if I'm drifting off into La La Land like you always are..."

"You must have a lot on your mind." The teen offered in a helpful tone. "You know... Since we're trying to be friends... You could try talking to me about it...?" Timmy frowned as he struggled to find the best way to explain that he was 'there' for the red-head. As a friend, of course, but at this point, there was no denying that he had feelings for both Tootie and her older sister, and dammit he wanted Vicki to _know_ that he liked her!

The brunet sighed, figuring he might as well just tell her and keep his promise from this morning. "Vicki... Um... You mind if I... Tell you something? I've... kinda wanted to get it off my chest for a while now, and it has to do with... Why I was over your house so early today..."

Upon hearing her Twerp's stuttering request, Vicki couldn't help but laugh a little. She had to admit, it was kind of cute to see this boy; the kid she'd easily spent the most time around back when she still babysat full-time, all grown up, yet still stumbling over his words like an awkward ten year old. "Well... You put up with me for all those years that I babysat you, so I _guess_ I can hear you out, long as you know that I'm gonna expect _quite_ a lot in return... So, what's up?"

"Remember how we made a deal, and I said I'd tell you who the... Um... _Other_ girl I liked was?" The teen scratched at his nose with his index finger, and quickly grimaced at his own nervous habit.

"Yup, that was the arrangement." Vicki confirmed his question, though she was somewhat confused. Where was he going with this?

"Well... This other girl... She's-"

"I'm back!" Tootie suddenly plopped back down in her seat across from Timmy, sliding his now refilled drink over to him. "Miss me?"

" _Son of a-..."_ Timmy facepalmed at his best friend's impeccably poor timing.

"Not especially." Vicki responded, her tone of voice somewhat warmer than it had been when the raven-haired girl asked her if she wanted her drink refilled.

"Well I know _that's_ a lie." Tootie laughed, evidently still unaware of the more than obvious tension between herself and her older sister. "Timmy, _you_ missed me, right?" The raven-haired girl fluttered her eyelashes at her crush, knowing how easily she could fluster her friend now that he'd confirmed that he liked her. ...Sort of.

"Well..." The brunet rubbed at his chin, pretending to consider whether or not he really did miss the girl. "Maybe a little..." Timmy shot Tootie a coy smirk as he finished.

" _Really_ now? Just a little...?" The bespectacled girl leaned forward as she spoke in a somewhat sultry tone, intending to distract the brunet's attention away from the fact that she had slipped her foot out of her sandal, and was slowly reaching it under the table, toward Timmy's leg.

"To be fair, Toots, you were only gone for a couple minutes, and you were right over the-!" Timmy jumped in his seat as he felt a very foot-like object slide over his knee, then continue on to his thigh, lightly rubbing itself against it.

Unsurprisingly, this little jump did not go unnoticed by the red-head who shared the table with the two teens. "You alright? Ya kinda jumped a little... there...?" Vicki looked back and forth between her younger sister, who was smiling deviously, and Timmy, who bore a pained-looking expression on his now red face. "Tootie... What are you...?" Scooting her chair back, Vicki looked under the table to find her sister's leg extended over to Timmy's side, her foot stroking the teen's inner thigh. "Seriously?" Vicki looked at Tootie with a surprised expression, almost unable to believe how perverted her little sister could be... And yet, the proof was right in front of her. Knowing(and for the moment, not caring) that she'd probably draw a fair bit of attention to herself, Vicki snatched Tootie's ankle with her right hand and shoved her foot away from Timmy. "Y'know Toots, I'm starting to understand why Timmy was so afraid of you back in the day..." The red-head turned her attention to the brunet, who had by now closed his legs. "She always been like this around you?"

"Er... Not quite _this_ forward with... Things... But... She's _your_ sister, you know how affectionate she can get..." Timmy's eyes darted around the room, trying to find anything, or any _one_ to look at besides Vicki or Tootie.

"C'mon Timmy... Don't pretend you weren't enjoying yourself..." The raven-haired girl shot Timmy another wink as his eyes briefly fell upon her again.

"Jeez Tootie, the Hell's making you so horny lately? That little episode in the kitchen this morning, and now _this_?" Vicki spoke in a chastising manner, though she was far from serious. "Have some patience and at least wait until we get back to his house!"

Timmy, legs still closed and hands on his lap, narrowed his eyes at the girl next to him. "You're not helping..." Not only was Tootie doing her damnedest to get _really_ friendly with certain parts of his anatomy, but Vicki was actually encouraging her to do so! He was nearly tempted to blurt out that she was the other girl he liked, but wisely chose to hold his tongue. The teen had a sneaking suspicion about what would happen to him if he confessed his feelings for the red-head in the middle of Nasty Burger, and he wasn't quite insane enough to attempt suicide by Vicki.

"I suppose that depends on what you think qualifies as 'help'." Vicki shrugged. "You should be ecstatic, considering if you were _any_ other guy, and dating my sister, I'd have probably killed you by now, overprotective of Tootie as I tend to be."

"But we're not even-! Ugh..." Timmy groaned, knowing by now that he was wasting his time denying that he and Tootie were in a relationship. Vicki was dead-set in her belief that they were, and honestly? He'd given it a bit of thought himself, and found that he was steadily becoming receptive to the idea. If you were going to date someone, the most logical choice would be the girl that actually likes you, right? The girl that you've known for most of your life, that you know you can trust with just about anything...

Yet that still left him with a significant problem. There was simply no denying that he liked Vicki too. The draw he felt towards the woman had not subsided in the least, but he was starting to feel a similar draw to Tootie as well. And while he'd certainly done his fair share of... Morally questionable things as a dimension-hopping ten year old with fairy godparents, he couldn't... He _wouldn't_ do something as low as date both sisters behind their backs. _"So then where does that leave me?!"_

Tootie and Vicki both stared at their male companion, watching him as he squeezed his eyes shut and drifted off into his own thoughts again. "So how long ya think he's gonna be gone for?" Vicki looked across the table at Tootie, who bore a mildly worried expression on her face.

"Dunno." The raven-haired girl sighed out as she ran her fingers through her hair, scratching her scalp in irritation, more at herself than at Timmy. "I'm... Probably not making this easy on him. Until today, he really thought that all those times I randomly touched him, bumped into him, _hugged_ him... He seriously thought it was playful 'just friends' stuff. Can you believe that?"

Vicki glanced at Timmy, then looked back over at her sister, raising an eyebrow as if to say: 'Really?'

"Okay yeah, he can be pretty naïve at times, I'll give you that one... And I guess... He's trying to figure out which of us he likes more..." Tootie fiddled with her straw before taking a sip from her drink.

" _Us? She can't mean... Me and her... Right?"_ The red-head shot another quick glance at Timmy before closing her eyes and scoffing quietly. _"No, no way... So then...?"_ "Wait. You _know_ about this other girl he likes?"

"Hm? Of course I do, she's-" Tootie's eyes widened in shock as she stopped herself at the last second. _"Oh yeah, Tootie! That'd be real good! Just tell Vicki that your crush has a crush on_ her _!"_ "I-I mean... Yeah... She- Um... I don't know her all that well, but... I don't think she even knows he likes her..."

"Well... That's good, right?"

"It... It is?" Tootie looked at her sister in confusion.

"Yeah! Timmy hasn't been pushing you away recently, and he's told me himself that he thinks he might like you, so that gives you an advantage against this girl! Especially since she doesn't even know he exists!" Vicki smirked proudly at her herself for her own deductive skills, and the fact that she was now positive that Tootie had a real shot with this boy she'd been crushing on for over half her life.

"I... I dunno, Vicki. Maybe you're right, maybe I _am_ trying to move this too fast..." Tootie remarked sadly as she looked over at Timmy again, seeing that he was still fairly deep in thought.

"Hm... Well..." It was the older Valentine's turn to think now, as she raised her hand up to her chin and tapped a finger against her it. "Then maybe _I'm_ the one in the wrong here..."

"...If only I had a tape recorder..." The raven-haired girl deadpanned at her sister.

"Yeah yeah, a rare moment where I admit to being wrong, bite me." Vicki rolled her eyes. "But seriously-" She gave Timmy another sidelong glance, finding that he was still completely oblivious to their conversation. "-If it means beating this girl for Timmy's heart, why not do it? You've got him all to yourself for today _and_ tomorrow... So now's your chance to seal the deal!" Vicki couldn't help but feel somewhat giddy at the idea of helping her little sister finally get her hands on the Twerp. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you two should sneak up to his room and..." The red-head winked at Tootie, making a light pink blush bloom across her cheeks at the more than obvious implication. "But hey, it's not my job to babysit either of you anymore..."

"So... you're basically telling me you'll turn a blind eye to anything that might happen at Timmy's house?" Tootie inquisitively quirked an eyebrow up at Vicki. She was, truthfully, caught off guard by how well things seemed to be going. Under more normal(and less serious) circumstances, she might think that this was some devious plot by her older sister to make both her and Timmy look like idiots... But Vicki didn't mess around when it came to serious issues like this...

"Put it this way, long as I don't have to help cover up a murder, or deal with a munchkin running around in nine months... Do as you like. Live a little." The red-head gave a final shrug as she finished. "I certainly would, were the roles reversed." With that said, Vicki turned her attention to Timmy and jabbed his shoulder with her elbow, startling him from his thoughts, and earning her a quizzical stare from the teen. "Riveting as it is to watch you sit and think about the best way to propose to my sister, I'm afraid the pool is calling, so how 'bout we head out?"

"Oh! Yeah... Um... Right, we should- We should probably get going..." Timmy scratched at his nose, that annoying nervous habit rearing its head again. It seemed he'd drifted away into his own head again, and missed out on a fairly important conversation between Tootie and Vicki, as he was quick to notice that the once-palpable tension between them had dissipated. It wasn't that he hadn't _heard_ them talking, but he most certainly hadn't _listened_. "Is... Are you two... Cool?"

"Hm? Yeah, we're good. Right, Toots?"

"I don't see why we wouldn't be." Tootie shrugged, secretly happy that Vicki wasn't the type to hold grudges... Against her, anyway.

"Guess it might seem a little odd to you, since you've never had any siblings, but it's hard to stay mad at your little sister... Or maybe it's just hard to stay mad at Tootie." Vicki gathered up her trash as she stood up, and was soon followed by Tootie, and at last, Timmy.

As he stood up from his seat and grabbed his drink, he watched the two sisters make their way toward the exit of the restaurant, the playful banter they normally shared between them restored as if there had never been any animosity in the first place.

Timmy followed after the both of them out of Nasty Burger, and he couldn't help but wonder who was playing who at this point. Was Tootie purposefully messing with both him _and_ Vicki? Was Vicki simply _pretending_ to be angry about the way Tootie hugged her? Were they both in on some plan that he wasn't even remotely aware of?

The teen sighed, knowing that, without asking the questions in the first place, he'd get no answers, yet what could he possibly ask? _"Hey, not to sound like a huge perv, but you two think we could head up to my room and-"_ Timmy mentally closed a door on that train of thought. He had enough of a problem trying to figure out which of the two sisters he actually liked without thoughts of Tootie _and_ Vicki- _"No, no stop that right now!"_ He rapidly shook his head back and forth to rid himself of the dirty thoughts, though he somehow knew it would be little more than a temporary fix.

"You got a bee flying around you or something?" Tootie called from the front passenger seat of his car, evidently the girl had called shotgun before Vicki this time... Or maybe the two had agreed to switch amicably. Either way, he was keeping them waiting.

"So impatient." The brunet teased as he walked over to his car and got in. "You really need to keep your shirt on, doubly so because Vicki decided not to wear one."

"Aw, give Tootie a break, Timmy. She _really_ wants to get wet today... Suppose she might wanna go for a swim in the pool too."

"Now _who's the perv...?"_ Timmy thought as he looked over his shoulder and into the backseat at the red-head, not quite believing the words that he'd just heard had come out of her mouth, yet all he was met with was one of the innocent smiles she usually reserved for deceiving the parents of the kids she babysat. "That doesn't work on me, Vicki... What are you planning?" The teen spoke in a tone befitting how he now felt: Worried.

"Who? Me?" Vicki asked in an innocent tone, hardly befitting her earlier remark. "Hey, I'm just the third wheel here. No plans, no tricks. I just wanna come over and cool off at your house for a few hours, cross my heart and hope to... Heh... Well..."

"Mm-hm." Timmy shot the girl a flat look. That innocent bullcrap may work on just about any adult in Dimmsdale, but anyone who'd had the red-head as a babysitter knew that her perfect little angel voice was the calm before the shitstorm.

"Quit your humming and let's get going already!" Vicki playfully shouted as she patted the brunet's shoulder, making him jump in his seat a little. "I was promised lunch _and_ a swim in the pool. All you've delivered on so far is lunch!"

"A lunch that was _free_ because _someone_ decided to scare the Hell out of our good friend Chip." Tootie spoke in a deadpan tone as she buckled her seatbelt.

"...It worked, didn't it? 'Sides, what kinda guy stalls this much when he's pretty much guaranteed to see two girls in their bikinis-"

Timmy hesitantly raised his hand in the air, playing along with Vicki's teasing.

" _And_ has a pretty good shot at making out with one of those girls? ...I'm talking about this one." The red-head reached over and placed the palm of her hand on top of Tootie's head, then shook her sister's head a little before having her hand swatted away. "Just so we're clear." Seeing her chance to take her teasing a little further, Vicki's left hand came to rest on Timmy's shoulder, then used the boy as leverage to pull herself forward, stopping her lips mere centimeters from his ear. " _Although_... I might be inclined to give my Twerp a kiss on the cheek if he's quick about getting us back to his house... Eh?" The red-head heard a quiet little giggle from her right, so apparently Tootie had not only heard her, but wasn't all that perturbed by her flirtatious remark... Or maybe her little sister just knew that she was simply teasing the Twerp.

Timmy; meanwhile, felt a shiver race up and down his spine. Teasing or not, Vicki's closeness and warm breath on his ear and neck was a serious turn-on for the brunet, who quickly(and shakily) jammed his key into the station wagon's ignition and roughly shifted the car into reverse, backing out of the parking lot of Nasty Burger before shifting back to drive and leaving the restaurant in his car's dust.

"Heehee!" It was Vicki's turn to giggle as she leaned back into her seat. " _Someone's_ excited!"


	6. Slippery When Wet

The old station wagon at long last pulled into the driveway of the Turner household, eliciting a weary sigh of relief from the driver of said vehicle, though it was safe to say that more stress was certainly on the way for the teenaged brunet, as his two female companions quickly shoved the passenger doors of the car open and practically leapt out of it. Both girls stretched their arms and legs out as soon as their feet hit the grass, clear relief at being out of the car etched on their faces.

"Augh... It's so stuffy in there! Should've known the air conditioner of an old dinosaur like this-" Vicki knocked her fist on the car's roof. "Wouldn't work that great..." Upon finishing, she stretched her arms up over her head, making her bones quietly pop.

Timmy opened his own door and got out of his car, giving Vicki's door a quick nudge with his hip to shut it, then turned his attention to the girl in question, intending to explain to her that air compressors were hard to come by for a car that was as old as his was... Except he was caught off guard by the red-head's chosen attire... Or again, lack thereof.

The way she was currently stretching caused the waist of her bikini bottom to peek out over the top of the black shorts she wore. As he expected, it matched the top she wore, being a bright, lime-green color. It took him a second to realize he was not only staring at the girl in front of him, he was glaring at her, or rather, the black jean-shorts that obstructed his view of the rest of Vicki's swimsuit. And a quick study of the heavily worn and somewhat tattered shorts revealed that, at some point, the button above the zipper had come undone, showing off just a little bit more of her swimsuit.

"No snappy comeback, Twerp?" Vicki opened her eyes as she let her arms drop back down to her sides, her gaze falling on Timmy, and the fact that he seemed to be staring at... Her belly? _"No, a bit lower..."_ Vicki turned her gaze down at herself, noticing the undone button of her shorts, at which point she looked back at him with a smirk. "Oh... I see... You're checking me out again!" Her smirk grew a bit wider as the teen confirmed her suspicion with a blush, his eyes quickly shooting up to meet hers.

"Can you really blame him?" Tootie asked from the other side of the car. "It's not like it's a secret that you're hot... Though you still feel the need to remind us every chance you get, anyway..."

"Wha- No! I wasn't-!" Timmy looked back and forth between Tootie and her older sister, trying to think up a good excuse to defend his actions. "I was just-" _"Dammit me! Why can't you stop getting us into these situations?!"_

"I mean..." Tootie began as she made her way around Timmy's car and over to her sister and the aforementioned brunet. "I'm pretty sure I'd be getting a few stares myself if I took _my_ shirt off..."

Vicki grinned slyly, under the assumption that she knew what Tootie was planning, though she kept her eyes focused on the boy in front of her. "Now _that's_ an _interesting_ theory, Sis. Would you care to test it?"

It was Tootie's turn to grin as she sidled up next to Timmy and boldly looped her arms around his waist, then let her head come to rest on her friend's shoulder. " _Maybe_... But I think I'd like to get Timmy's opinion on this one..." Her voice was low in his ear, just barely above a whisper, yet still loud enough to ensure that her sister heard her too.

Though he was being held in place by his best friend in a very intimate manner, Timmy found that he was... Oddly relaxed. Yes, his heart was beating a mile a minute, and Tootie would have to be the most oblivious person in the world to not notice it, but this hug was more along the lines of the kind he liked. It wasn't suffocating, or so tight that he'd be completely unable to free himself if he needed to, nor was it the kind of hug that people who were 'just friends' shared. It was just... Nice.

And the enjoyable feeling he got from the hug only served to further confuse the teen, as it was _immensely_ tempting to return the hug and... Do other things to the girl... Things that should most certainly be done in private, and not on his front lawn. Which made him wonder, was this feeling just his hormones talking? Tootie was, without a doubt, cute; and while it was true that she'd been just shy of throwing herself at him all day, that was just... Just _Tootie_. After knowing her for so long, he'd be more surprised; and downright _worried_ , if she _wasn't_ clingy.

Yet... That wasn't what he wanted... Well, no. He _definitely_ wanted Tootie like _that_. The somewhat short girl had quickly figured out just how to press every one of his buttons, and it was starting to take more and more restraint on Timmy's part to not end up right back in the same situation he'd found himself in back at the Valentine household... Yet now they were _here_ , at _his_ house, and Vicki hadn't said so much as a word of complaint concerning their actions...

" _Does that mean she's in on it too? Could that have been the conversation I missed?"_ Again, the brunet found himself lost in his thoughts. He _could_ ask, find out that his assumption wasn't the case at all, and make both girls hate him... Or make the red-head hate him, at the very least. Not even taking into account his feelings for Vicki, there wasn't any safe way to ask her if she was... Okay with he and Tootie going up to his room and... _"No way! Ask her if we can screw?! Who asks permission to-"_ Timmy realized he was seconds away from mentally shoving his own foot into his mouth and shook his head. This whole situation had started because he _thought_ it was a good idea to ask Tootie and Vicki's father for permission to date the red-head!

"Y'know..." Tootie spoke up as she leaned back slightly, putting a bit of distance between herself and the brunet she clung to so that he didn't bump her with his rather animated head shaking. As she did, the raven-haired girl turned toward Vicki, narrowing her eyes at her older sister. "I distinctly remember a certain promise of a kiss on the cheek if Timmy got us here quick enough... Sound familiar, Sis?"

Vicki's eyes widened slightly at this, shocked that her sister both remembered her mildly suggestive remark, and simply by _what_ exactly Tootie was suggesting in the first place. "I... I didn't promise a damn thing!" Her cheeks pinkened in embarrassment, as even _she_ had forgotten saying the off-handed remark. "A-And we didn't shake on it... Or... Or even agree on how quickly the Twerp had to get us here in the first place! I- I was just joking around anyway! Why would I kiss _Timmy_?!"

"I dunno." Tootie shrugged, arms still coiled around Timmy's abdomen. "Because he's cute?"

"So what if he is?! I don't see what that has to do with the fact that I never even _said_ the word promise!" Vicki's face rapidly changed from her regular skin tone to one that was decidedly closer to beet-red.

"No~" Tootie drawled out in an overly sweet tone. "But you _did_ just agree with me when I said Timmy was cute."

"I thought we came here to cool off in the pool...?" The brunet-haired topic of conversation very nearly whined out at Tootie, before the gears in his head began to turn. "Wait... You think I'm... Cute?" Timmy raised an eyebrow at Vicki curiously.

"I-... Hmph!" The red-head, feeling the warmth in her cheeks, crossed her arms over her chest in a rather dramatic fashion and looked away from the two teens in front of her. "You... Have your moments... Very, very rare moments..."

" _Well... It's something."_ The teen frowned as he felt the strength of Tootie's grip increase minutely, making him look back at the raven-haired girl.

"Y'know, Sis... He's not the only one..." Seeing her opportunity, Tootie decided to press her luck as Timmy turned to face her, and rubbed her nose back and forth against his.

"Ugh... Yeah Tootie, we get it. You're cute too..." The red-head, thoroughly disgusted with the levels of sweetness in the Turners' front yard, made her way toward the front door of the house, quietly muttering under her breath. "Gonna get Diabetes if I stay out here much longer..."

Timmy watched as his ex-babysitter unlocked the front door with the spare key his parents had given her and let herself into his house, leaving him alone in the front yard with the younger of the Valentine sisters.

Tootie released something akin to a sigh, though there was a certain upbeat aspect to it, making it sound content. "She can be so dense sometimes... I wasn't talking about _me_ being cute..."

"I didn't see anyone else here, so either you were reinforcing her statement that I'm cute, or you-..." The male teen trailed off again, his mind once again clouding itself with... _Certain_ thoughts. _"No, idiot. This is why Vicki will always think you're a Twerp, because you always think like a moronic, male fantasy-driven teenager..."_ Yet Timmy couldn't help but take a look at his surroundings. Who else could Tootie have been talking about? Was Chester around? AJ? Did she have a _mouse_ in her pocket? "Tootie... Who- ...Who were you calling... Cute...?"

The girl Timmy knew as his best friend grinned again, this time simply because she absolutely _loved_ to tease this boy she was crushing on. "I'll tell you... If you can beat me."

"Huh-?" The brunet was cut off as Tootie leaned in, placing a feather-light kiss on the tip of his nose.

"Race you to the pool!" The girl exclaimed giddily as she released Timmy and pushed him away in one swift motion, making him stumble backward and fall onto the grass, landing on his back.

The buck-toothed teen, momentarily caught off guard by how easily Tootie had tricked him and pushed him to the ground, paused to stare up at the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and were it not for the nearly blistering humidity, one might even consider it a beautiful day in Dimmsdale...

"You're not dead, are you?" The face of the very girl that had pushed him to the ground came into view, her lips curled up into a somewhat sultry smile. God did she know how to push his buttons! _"...Or maybe... I just like her..."_ "Y'know something, Toots?"

"Hm?" The bespectacled girl bent over a little more, bringing her face closer to Timmy's, and making her glasses slide down the bridge of her nose, coming to a stop at the tip of it just before they fell off completely.

"You should be running..." Timmy grinned evilly as he sat up nearly instantly, causing Tootie to yelp and stumble back, then land on the grass butt-first. Without missing a beat, the brunet launched himself toward the girl, arms spread wide with the intent of capturing her.

Unfortunately, he hadn't taken into account the fact that, since she was smaller than him(if only a little), she was more nimble than he was. By the time he'd jumped and spread his arms, Tootie had already scrambled backward and to her feet, giggling all the while.

And with no target, the brunet found himself landing face-first in the grass, with no captured best friend to show for his valiant efforts.

"Hey!" Tootie called out amidst a fit of giggles as she halted her retreat and stopped to lean against the frame of the front door of Timmy's house. "I said a _race_ , not tag!"

"Ptah!" Timmy lifted his head up and spat out several blades of grass, then shot Tootie a flat-yet-mildly-annoyed look. "All these years of chasing me, and I'm finally the one chasing _you_... You're really gonna choose _now_ to play hard to get?!"

"Someone doesn't like getting a taste of his own medicine..." Tootie replied in a mocking tone as she stuck out her now quivering lower lip. "Besides-" The sultry smile from before quickly replaced her faked frown. "Unlike back when we were ten, _I_ actually _want_ you to catch _me_...!" As if to twist the knife and further emphasize her point, Tootie turned her body sideways, her gaze still focused on Timmy, and let her forearms rest against the door frame as she bent over until her head and rear-end were about level with each other, putting her in a _very_ provocative position. "You catch me, and maybe you'll get to see me like this _without_ all this silly clothing in the way..."

There was something about her pose, and the words that accompanied it, that left Timmy completely speechless. He could do nothing but stare at the girl, mouth agape, his face feeling like it was on fire. It wasn't hard for him to imagine that, if his life were an anime, the amount of blood pressure in his face would almost assuredly lead to a nosebleed.

He'd certainly _had_ every intention of taking today slow, figuring out his feelings for the two sisters, and maybe, _just maybe_ getting lucky(in his dreams, anyway). But now... Now he wasn't so sure... About much of anything! Except... Well... He was pretty sure he wanted to catch Tootie- No, he was _absolutely_ sure he wanted to catch Tootie. And unlike a dog who chases a car, and wouldn't know what to do with it when it finally caught one, Timmy knew _exactly_ what he wanted to do to his best friend. The very least of which being to smother her with kisses.

"Better hurry, Timmy." Tootie pushed herself up and off the door frame so she could stand up straight. "You don't catch me, or at least _beat_ me to the pool, you'll never find out who I was-Eep!" The raven-haired girl squeaked in sudden surprise as Timmy scrambled to his feet and made a beeline for her, though her surprise was quick to turn into giddy excitement and giggling as their game of cat and mouse started up again.

With her best friend/crush hot on her heels, Tootie darted through the living room, pausing at the threshold between it and the kitchen as she heard the rapid footsteps of her pursuer cease. The girl quickly pushed the unlatching door that separated the two rooms open, and whipped around the corner that the door frame provided. After a few quiet seconds(save for the odd pounding noise in her ears), Tootie stuck her head out and looked into the living room to see that Timmy was simply shutting and locking the front door. Even with chasing her on his mind, he still prioritized the safety of both her and her sister above everything else... Or maybe he just didn't want any surprise guests once he'd finally caught her. It was probably that.

" _Ooh... Why am I even running from him?! I want him to catch me! ...God do I want him to catch me..."_ Tootie brought her hand up to her chest and laid her palm flat against where her heart was, realizing what the odd pounding sound she'd heard was. Her heart was beating against her ribcage like a drum, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was caused by the adrenaline from running and being chased by Timmy... Or if she was just really excited by the prospect of being caught by him in the first place. Even if she'd been blind, she would've been able to see the lust in Timmy's eyes when she... Posed for him.

Another, somewhat stranger feeling made itself known to Tootie now, and she unconsciously let the hand that had been feeling her out of control heartbeat drop down to her navel... Then a little lower, just above the waist of her swimsuit. There was a certain... Internal warmth there, a tingly kind of warm feeling that made her skin break out with goosebumps. Still somewhat unaware of her actions, Tootie didn't notice her hand move a bit lower, her fingers colliding with, then slipping under the waist of her bikini bottom-

 _THUD_

"Ah!" The raven-haired girl jumped in surprise as she felt something lightly bump the back of her head, making her wandering hand shoot up to rub at the bumped spot. "What was-?!" Tootie turned her head, only to find that the door that separated the living room from the kitchen had been the cause of her duress, said door now being mere centimeters from her face. "Stupid door..."

"You okay?"

"Eep!" A sudden, not particularly deep-sounding voice once again made the girl jump, this time right into the arms of the brunet she'd been trying to get away from, arms that quickly looped around her small form in a light embrace.

"Jeez Tootie..." Timmy chuckled as he held the girl in a mildly protective manner. "It's just a door..."

"The... The door attacked... me...?" _"Smooth, Tootie. You sound drunk off your ass!"_ It didn't take long for Tootie to realize that she felt a bit light-headed... And she was positive her light-headedness wasn't caused by the door bumping her, but rather by the boy currently holding her in his arms. Their little game of cat and mouse had been... Exciting, definitely...

But now... With the boy of her dreams(and naughty fantasies) holding her in his arms... She was just plain turned _on_! ... _Very_ turned on... _"So much for getting away... Wait, what am I_ thinking _?! I never wanted to get away!"_ "Oh noes! You caught me!" Yes, though she knew she was caught, she was still going to put on a little act for the brunet. "W-what are you g-gonna do to m-me?" Her tone was shaky and terrified, but quickly changed to lusting as she pressed herself against Timmy, bringing her arms up to his chest and roughly gripping his shirt in her hands. "Mm... What are you gonna do to me...?"

Timmy slowly moved one arm up off her back and into her dark hair, running his fingers through her raven locks until stopping at where the door had collided with her head. "The door didn't hit you too hard, did it?"

Before he'd asked his question, Tootie had been steadily leaning up towards him, standing on her toes so her lips could meet his... Until she stopped; mere centimeters from physical contact, upon hearing his question. "The... door? No, I'm- Are-Aren't you going to kiss me?"

"Kiss you?" Timmy looked at the girl in his arms incredulously, having forgotten his previous intentions when he realized she'd been hit in the head by the door. What he _didn't_ seem to realize was that the door weighed very little, and wouldn't be able to hurt someone even if you slammed it closed on them. "Like... where the door hit you?"

"...What?" Tootie asked, now feeling as confused as Timmy seemed to be. "Why would you kiss me where the door hit me? ...It was the back of my head!"

"Wha- I... I dunno! Why else would I kiss you?" Timmy's cheeks pinkened slightly at their topic of conversation. Yes, he'd come to realize that he did indeed like his best friend... Like _that_ , and it wasn't as if he'd turn down the opportunity to kiss her...

"Have you _noticed_ the way you're holding me?" The raven-haired girl asked in an annoyed tone... No, she wasn't annoyed, she was _frustrated_. That was it. Before she'd bumped her head, she was positive that Timmy was going to catch her, maybe even tackle her, nearly smother her with kisses, and... and... Tootie shivered as her imagination went wild, her mind became flooded with images of Timmy bending her over his kitchen table, undoing the button and zipper of her shorts, dropping them and her bikini bottom to the floor and...

And she was completely losing control of the situation she found herself in! Of course she wanted the end result of her whole plan to be sex, but she _did_ want a relationship with this boy that had unwittingly stolen her heart all those years ago too. A real relationship, not the 'just friends' bullshit excuse of a relationship she'd been using to get close and stay close to Timmy. She wanted the hugs to mean something, she wanted this boy to randomly grab her and hold her in his arms like he was now, she wanted to kiss him, taste him, and let him taste her... She wanted- Dammit! She wanted him!

"Y-you jumped at me! I was- All I did was catch you to keep you from falling!" Despite his poor attempt at justifying his actions, Timmy's grip on the bespectacled girl did not weaken in the slightest. He knew he was dancing around doing... Something he _really_ wanted to do, if he was being honest with himself.

And then... Something clicked. Not an audible click, it was more of a mental one. Like finally solving a difficult math equation, or searching up and down a beach for buried treasure and finding it after hours of combing said beach. The brunet subtly tightened his right arm around Tootie's waist, while his left arm remained looped under hers and up her back, his hand still tangled up in her hair.

It occurred to him that he'd never actually touched Tootie's hair before today. It was soft, softer than he would've imagined it being, anyway. In fact, now that he was this close to Tootie, Timmy noticed several things about her that he couldn't recall ever noticing before... Well, not before today, anyway. Like how pretty the color of her eyes was. While Vicki, and her and Tootie's mother had pink eyes, Tootie's were truly unique in the family, being a subdued shade of violet; not quite as eye-catching as the purple clothes she seemed to favor, but they were quite pretty. And her skin, while somewhat paler than Vicki's, was almost entirely free of blemishes, save for the dusting of barely-there freckles across her nose and cheeks. _"Do freckles even count as blemishes?"_ Timmy mused to himself as he took in every minute detail of the girl he was embracing; the pink tint on her cheeks, the slight sheen of her lips that made him wonder if she was wearing lip gloss, the faint-but-noticeable scent of lilacs coming off her, and the look in her eyes...

Was it lust? Love? Some combination of the two? Probably. His raven-haired best friend hadn't declared her love for him in over two years, and even the last time she'd told him she loved him, she meant for it to come off jokingly.

So then what term could be used to describe his own feelings for the girl? He wasn't so naïve to call it love. Yes, Tootie had been, and probably always would be by his side through thick and thin, and he honestly loved that _about_ her, but was he _in love_ with her? No. He didn't think so. She meant quite a lot to him, but he'd never really even _entertained_ the idea of a relationship with her before... Everything that had happened today.

That being said... Could it become love over time? He thought so... Although, at the moment, his brain was less focused on love, and more focused on lust. The way she was staring at him now, and the way she'd been posing outside... It gave him chills just thinking about it! Even with her pressing herself against him... Or maybe _because_ she was pressing herself against him, Timmy wanted to be closer to her. He wanted to... He wanted to pick her up, have her wrap her legs around his waist as he pressed her body up against the side of the refrigerator and kissed her; her lips, her neck...

Without giving the action much conscious thought, Timmy leaned forward a little, slowly bringing his head down to the same level as Tootie's, and just barely hearing the shuddering gasp she let out right before his forehead gently collided with hers. "Y'know something, Toots?" The brunet felt his cheeks heat up as a sly grin crept its way across his face.

"Y-yeah?"

She sounded so meek and timid when she spoke, and this only served to add fuel to the fire burning in the buck-toothed teen for his friend. Maybe she was still just acting, maybe it was genuine, but Timmy couldn't deny how excited this side of Tootie made him feel. It just suited her so much better than her more obsessive tendencies, like ceaselessly chasing after him, or tying him to her bed. "I like you. I _really_ like you."

"Y-you do?" The shudder in her voice remained, though it was now accompanied by no small amount of almost giddy relief. Tootie's grip on Timmy's shirt slackened, until she finally released it, opting instead to enjoy the moment, and slide her hands up his chest to loop her arms around his neck.

"I do... At least, I think so... You really are my best friend. There are... There are things I can talk to you about that I could never bring up around Chester or AJ, and I-Mmph?" Timmy was cut off by the girl in his arms as she gently pressed her lips to his. It took him a second to realize that she was kissing him. His best friend, Tootie Valentine, the girl that had spent a good portion of her life chasing him, likely trying to get to a moment exactly like this, had interrupted his confessing his feelings for her with a kiss.

Not to say it was unpleasant. No, quite the opposite. He'd always imagined that, if Tootie had ever caught him back when she was obsessing over him, a kiss from her would be sloppy and forceful, her tongue roughly invading his mouth, keeping his own tongue from doing anything but letting it happen... But this was different. One might almost call it... Timid; like she was now.

Yet, before the teen could even attempt to return the kiss, Tootie pulled away, her face now flushed red in embarrassment, and her mouth turned up in a victorious grin. "Save it. Much as I wanna hear you tell me all the things you love about me, there'll be time for pillow talk later... Right now...Nnh!" The raven-haired girl let out a shuddering moan as she tightened her arms around Timmy's neck, using him as leverage to pull herself closer to him and grind her pelvis against his. "R-right now... T-the only thing I want is..."

"My _thing_?" Timmy finished her sentence for her, grinning cheekily as he slid his hand down her back to cup her left buttock.

Tootie could do little but nod hesitantly at Timmy's question. It wasn't as if she'd never been turned on before, and she was no stranger to orgasms, as she'd spent many a night alone in bed, thinking about her crush, what she wanted him to do to her... And those thoughts always lead to her being turned on, which lead to her hand finding its way between her legs, which _then_ lead to her moaning into a pillow to keep from drawing attention from the rest of her sleeping family.

But all those lonely nights were completely different from how she felt now, there was just no comparison! Her body felt like it was on fire, each breath she took came out hot, accompanied by a shudder, and between her legs felt even hotter than the rest of her body, hotter and... slick.

"You... Wanna head up to my room?" The brunet asked in a husky tone, having every intention of picking Tootie up and rushing upstairs with her, tossing her onto his bed and... Oh, the things he'd do to her!

" _Yes!"_ Tootie mentally screamed. Oh God did she want to. So, _so_ much! And judging by the bulge she could feel in Timmy's jeans as she pressed against him, so did he. If she gave him the answer being screamed in her head, she knew that all her fantasies involving him would come true. She finally had what she wanted, all she had to do was say one. Little. Word... Except... There was still something nagging at her, something she needed to ask before they went any further... "Timmy? What... About Vicki?" Yes, she remembered that Vicki had all but given her permission to go up to Timmy's room and... Well, screw. But she also remembered that the boy she was grinding against did indeed have feelings for the red-head, your heart doesn't speed up like his did when you think about someone unless that person brings a strong emotional reaction out of you, and she knew Timmy didn't fear her sister anymore. He liked her. _"And he likes_ me _too!"_ Tootie's inner voice exclaimed giddily.

" _Shit..._ _I'm an idiot for even_ thinking _it'd be that easy..."_ Timmy Turner was officially in _quite_ the pickle. He liked Tootie. He liked Vicki too. They were both cute in their own ways and mannerisms, and both could get his heart beating like a drum. Different as they were from each other, there was no denying he harbored feelings for both of them, and even confessing his affection for Tootie didn't change the fact that he cared for Vicki too, just as it would be if things had gone the other way, and it was Vicki he was holding right now, rather than Tootie. And, unfortunately, neither sister won out over the other. He simply couldn't choose one without still feeling like he wanted the other one too.

So was he a bad person for that? Most would probably see him as one. Sure, Tootie had been patient with him up until now, but _now_ was the moment of truth. It only made sense that she was asking him this, to pick one of them over the other. Tootie or Vicki. Vicki or Tootie...

The teen knew that he'd never technically been this close to Vicki. His current embrace with Tootie had been brought about by worry over her possibly getting hurt, and genuine affection for the girl. Whereas the time he and Vicki had hugged... Was out of necessity. There wasn't any real affection in it(not from Vicki, anyway), as it had just been the only means they had at that moment to stay warm. There was little doubt in the brunet's mind that, if Vicki had been trapped in a frozen cave with literally anyone else, she'd have done the same, if it meant guaranteeing her survival...

Yet, it hadn't been anyone else, he was the one that shared what was nearly a frozen tomb with the red-head, and though she had been... Somewhat cross with him after they found out the 'yeti' was just some pizza delivery guy, it didn't change the fact that her relying on him to stay alive had... Affected him more than he'd ever consider admitting. Perhaps that particular event had been the start of it, his strange attraction to the fiery red-head. Though, being only ten, he had no idea that it was...

"Hey, Earth to Timmy!" The raven-haired girl giggled cutely as she pulled her right arm away from the brunet's neck and brought her hand up to his nose, giving him a light flick on it.

"Ow." Timmy responded in a flat tone as he roughly groped Tootie's rear-end, making her jump slightly in surprise.

"T-there'll be time f-for _that_ later... Answer the question." She spoke in a forceful tone, though her mind was a bit too hazy for her to truly sound threatening.

Timmy, after a few seconds of tense hesitation, released a sigh, one that had a shuddering quality to it, due to the closeness he was still sharing with Tootie. "I... Don't really know... I still like her, I do... And I'm sure that's not what you want to hear, but-"

"Why wouldn't I want to hear-"

"Hey Timmy! How the Hell do you turn this damn thing on?!" Tootie was cut off by a yell from outside, the source of which was obviously Vicki.

"Ugh... Nice timing as usual, Sis..." The bespectacled girl at last released and pulled away from her brunet-haired friend, facepalming and shaking her head back and forth as she did. "We better go see what's got her panties in a knot... She sounds impatient."

"Tootie, Vicki _always_ sounds impatient." Timmy remarked in an obvious tone of voice and chuckled as he looked toward the back door of his house. However; he turned his attention back to Tootie as he remembered that she'd been about to say something... Well, intriguing. "Tootie...? Just now, what were you-"

"Oh Twerp~!" Vicki began in her familiar saccharine tone. "I may not be your loving babysitter anymore, but I _don't_ think you wanna know what happens if I have to call you a _third time_!" The sickeningly sweet tone soon made way for the _other_ familiar tone. The dangerous one.

The tone that, oddly enough, sent a strange chill up and down Timmy's spine. "I-I'm coming!" He called out toward the back door, hoping Vicki would hear him and stave off his execution. "Um..." Timmy looked back at Tootie, who now seemed to have calmed down enough to regain her composure. "I- uh... We should probably-"

"Yeah, before she..." The raven-haired girl trailed off as she took off her glasses, noticing that they had become rather steamed up.

"Kills me, right." Timmy scratched the back of his head. To his surprise, he suddenly felt... Really nervous around Tootie, completely different from how confident he'd felt when he was holding her. "But! Um... We're- We're not done, alright? We need to... Figure out where we're at... And I- I mean, you- ...We need to talk about whatever it was you were gonna say, so..."

"Right." Tootie nodded as she returned her glasses to her face and closed her eyes. _"Okay Tootie, for once, try not to act like a psycho. Timmy likes Vicki, you like Timmy, Vicki_ doesn't _know Timmy likes her, Timmy likes you... Timmy likes... Me? Me! Timmy likes me! ...And Vicki."_ The girl scratched her chin in thought as an idea came to mind. Certainly a... Strange one. One she should probably run by- "Um, Timmy-" The bespectacled girl opened her eyes to find that she was quite alone in the Turners' kitchen.

 _Outside..._

Timmy jogged out of his house through the back door, leaving Tootie behind once he saw that she seemed to have become lost in thought. No doubt whatever she was thinking about was important, but at the moment, not getting drowned in his pool by Vicki took precedence over whatever his best friend had to say... At least, he hoped that was the case...

"Tim-"

"I'm here." Timmy interrupted Vicki's attempt to shout his name as he quickly sidled up next to her by the pool. "What's up?"

"Don't you need to turn this thing on?" The girl next to him nodded at the still water of the in-ground pool.

"Oh, is that all?" The teen leaned toward the pool, realizing that the filters hadn't yet been turned on.

"What do you mean 'is that all'? I dunno anything about pools." Vicki shrugged as she kicked off her green sandals, making them land near one of the lawn chairs that sat by the pool.

"Well..." Timmy gave Vicki's body a quick once-over, again pausing to glare at the eyesore that her shorts were, before returning his gaze upward to meet her pink eyes. "I could show you, if you want?"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm interested in _swimming_ in the pool, not performing maintenance on it." Again, Vicki spoke in a haughty and seemingly disinterested tone of voice, then started to take off her shorts, only just now noticing that the top button of the frayed ex-jeans had come undone. "Hm, that's weird. I didn't even-" Feeling a pair of eyes on her, the red-head craned her neck up slightly, meeting the blue eyes of her ex-charge once again. "Well go on. Turn on the pool, you can ogle me when you get back." Vicki finished with a wink and a smirk, eliciting another blush in the brunet, who quickly scampered back over to the back door of his house and flipped a switch by the door, turning the pool's filters on.

"What the Hell was I _thinking_ when I invited these two over?!" Timmy whispered out harshly to himself as he leaned against the side of the house wearily.

"Hey Twerp!"

"Back to Twerp again..." The male teen muttered as he pushed himself off the house, then turned back toward the pool, and his ex-babysitter's voice. "Yeah, Vicki-"

Bearing her own sultry smile, Vicki posed for Timmy, in much the same way that Tootie had a few minutes earlier, though there was obviously no door frame for her to lean on, so the red-head instead had her hands on her hips, or rather, had her the thumb and index finger of each hand hooked into the waist band of her jean-shorts as she slowly pushed them off, at long last showing off the bottom half of her swimsuit. Once off her well formed rear end, the shorts quickly dropped down her legs and onto the ground, pooling at her feet and allowing her to step out of them. She then stood up straight and faced the teen fully, hands on her hips and her right hip cocked upward slightly. "You like this kinda stuff, right Timmy?"

Had he not lost count of the number of times he'd blushed today, both due to Tootie and Vicki, he might've added the one currently overtaking his face to the total, but he'd stopped keeping track around lunch, and that was probably for the best, it'd just be one more thing to try in vain to keep track of, amid all the strange feelings he was being assailed with today. "Wh-What are you trying t-to say?" Had she noticed the way Tootie posed for him a few minutes earlier? Had the two sisters talked about him so extensively when they were at Nasty Burger? ...Was he possibly just _that_ obvious?

Vicki's smile remained in the face of Timmy's stuttered question. She was beginning to wish that Timmy had been interested in girls at a younger age, this teasing was so much _fun_! "I don't need twenty-twenty vision to know that you've had _quite_ the hard time keeping your eyes off me today; in the kitchen at my house, in the car... A few quick glances at Nasty Burger, and now this! Heehee! Looks like _someone's_ crushin' on his babysitter!" Vicki quirked an eyebrow up at the teen as a more devious idea came to mind and she spoke in a huskier tone. "Or..." Her right hand moved up from her hip, slowly sliding up her side, over her ribs, and up to her right breast, cupping it and giving it a gentle squeeze. "He's crushin' on her body, at least."

" _I'm seriously beginning to think I did something unforgivable in a previous life, and this is karmic retribution for whatever that was..."_ Timmy sighed loudly as he jammed his hands into his pockets and began walking toward the red-haired girl. "So, is this what I have to look forward to now that we're friends? You teasing me about checking you out at every opportunity?" The teen shot her an almost wistful smile as he came to a stop a few feet in front of her.

"Well..." Vicki moved her hand off her chest, bringing it and her left hand behind her head and clasping them together, again making her look like she was posing sexily for Timmy, though this one was unintentional. "Only when I catch you staring... Which I find I'm doing a lot more than usual. Besides, there's not necessarily anything _wrong_ with checking me out, even if you like Tootie. We _are_ related, after all."

"That's true, but... What, you're not kinda pissed about it? You _know_ I like Tootie, and-"

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious you do." Vicki interrupted the brunet as she let her arms drop to her sides. "But I already told you that I don't really mind you looking at me..." She suddenly leaned forward and reached toward Timmy, using her index finger to push his head up a little and make eye contact with her. "Lemme just say this though, if I happen to catch you ogling _anyone_ but me or Tootie-"

"Yeah yeah... You'll kill me..." The brunet lightly swatted the older girl's hand away. Her lectures about being faithful to her sister were already starting to tire him out.

"Always knew you were a fast learner, Timmy." Vicki stood up straight, a smile that one might call 'approving' on her face.

"Timmy again? You've been flip-flopping an awful lot with what you wanna call me today. Sometimes I'm Timmy, sometimes I'm 'the Twerp' again..."

"Well..." _"Hm. Have I? I didn't really notice... Leave it to him to pick up on little things like that."_ Vicki shrugged indifferently. "I dunno, suppose sometimes I feel like I can skip calling you a Twerp... At least, whenever you're not being one."

"Then..." Timmy began tapping his fingers together nervously. _"_ Sometimes _I'm a Twerp? So then... Not now?"_ He wondered if maybe he should just tell Vicki who the _other_ girl he liked was. He'd already agreed to her deal of telling her today, and it might be less stressful to simply tell her and get it off his chest now, rather than later. "At the risk of... Sounding like a... Twerp... Uh... Well, with all the teasing you've been doing... It's... kinda got me wondering... Would you- Er... That is..."

"Timmy." Vicki grinned bemusedly.

"Y-yeah, Vicki?"

" _Ah... He can be so cute when he's all nervous..."_ "Get to the point."

"Um... R-right, sorry..." _"Crap, should I really tell her? Might just make things worse if I do... But... I said I would, so..."_ Again, the brunet's nervous habit reared its head as he scratched at his nose, a dusting of pink going across it and both cheeks. "Hypothetically speaking... What do you think the chances would be of you and I... Erm..." In an instant, Timmy's blush darkened from pink to crimson, partially because he'd _almost_ just asked Vicki if she'd consider the possibility of dating him, and partially because... He simply couldn't ask his question, which frustrated him to no end!

"The chances of me and you... What?" The red-head asked in a genuinely questioning tone. She had the absolute _slightest_ inkling of what Timmy was suggesting, but the more rational part of her brain _knew_ he couldn't be suggesting that he and... _her_?! "You're uh- You're dragging this uncomfortable silence on for... For kind of a while now..." Vicki's cheeks began to change to a hue similar to the color of Timmy's favorite hat. _"Okay... Um... He said hypothetically, right? So... He-He's not serious... R-right?!"_ "H-Hypothetically speaking... Right?"

"Um... Yea-Yes." Timmy rapidly nodded his head up and down.

"Okay... Um..." _"Dammit! Why am I so nervous?! This is Timmy! The Twerp!_ I'm _supposed to make_ him _nervous, not the other way around!"_ Despite her inner voice's chastising remarks for her quite out of the blue shyness, the red-head wasn't sure where to begin, and unconsciously folded her arms across her chest, this time covering her modest bust. The best way to describe how she felt was... Naked. She felt naked in front of this boy she'd known for the better part of eight years, and she had no idea why! "This is... Kinda out of left field, even for you, Timmy..."

"Well..." The teen rubbed the back of his head, a little relieved that his question(hypothetical as it was) wasn't met with immediate disgust... Or at least disdain. "To be fair, it's no more out of left field than you and I trying to be friends..." Timmy groaned, then facepalmed. "Urgh... Sorry. Was kind of a stupid question anyway..."

"Not gonna wait for a hypothetical answer to your hypothetical question?" Vicki again raised an eyebrow at the teen in front of her, earning her that cute confused stare again. "Come on now, it took serious guts to ask me something like that... Don't you want an answer?" She at least felt her confidence beginning to return, now that she was once again the one in control of the situation.

Timmy released a huff through his nose. _"Why did I even ask that? She's never letting me live this one down... It'll be the pictures of me in a maid outfit all over again!"_ "...Not like I ever had a chance with you in the first place..."

"Not with that attitude you wouldn't have!" Vicki chuckled at how quickly her Twerp could go from confident, to nervous, to defeated in such a small amount of time. "Oh... I'm glad we all decided to hang out today, it's been... kinda fun!" The red-head stepped toward Timmy, and away from the pool, until stopping just a few feet in front of him. "Seriously though, don't give up so easily. You used to be a lot more confident when you were ten, and I admired that about you... Well that, and... You were pretty cute back then..." Vicki smiled evilly, showing off her pearly white teeth. "Still are now-"

"Last one in buys me dinner!"

Timmy looked over his shoulder, as did Vicki, as the two heard Tootie shout from the back door of his house. With near inhuman swiftness, the raven-haired girl ran toward them, kicking off her sandals, and, without missing a beat, yanking her shirt up over her head and off herself.

"Oh no you don't!" Vicki spun around back toward the pool, slapping Timmy in the face with her ponytail as she did. "I didn't even _bring_ money with me!"

However, a panicked thought came to Timmy's mind, and his right hand darted out to wrap its fingers around the red-head's wrist, stopping her in her tracks. A second later, Tootie(now somehow without her shorts, yet still wearing her glasses) was caught in a similar manner by the brunet, his left, free arm looping around her waist and stopping her, though he nearly fell over from trying to stop the unstoppable force that was his best friend. "Wait!"

"'Kay." "What for?!" The two Valentine sisters answered at the same time in _significantly_ different ways. Tootie, likely because she was perfectly content being held in such a protective way by Timmy. And Vicki... Probably because it was hot, and the teen was keeping her from cooling off in the pool, which was less than a meter away from her now.

"You two can't go swimming yet!"

"I'm good here." "Why not?" Again, Tootie and Vicki answered at the same time.

"Because we just ate! What if one of you two got a cramp while in the pool, then one of us jumped in to save you, and _they_ got a cramp, and the last of us tried to save those two, and _they_ got a cramp?! We'd all suffer horrible deaths by drowning!" Timmy truly thought he was being completely rational, just like he _thought_ you would very definitely get a cramp if you went swimming shortly after eating. A thought reinforced by his overprotective fairy godmother, Wanda.

A thought that was clearly not being taken seriously by neither Tootie nor Vicki, judging by the deadpan stares they were giving him. The two sisters glanced at each other, then back at Timmy, and again to each other, then nodded in silent agreement. "Timmy?" Tootie began in an overly sweet tone.

"Y-Yeah?" The brunet gulped, feeling like he was the butt of a very fast approaching joke.

"Vicki and I think that you're getting a _little_ stressed." Calmly, the bespectacled girl unwound Timmy's arm from around her waist, then gently grasped his left hand in her own.

"And you know what the best way to relieve stress is?" It was the red-head's turn to speak in a sweet tone, sending familiar shivers up Timmy's spine.

"Well..." Tootie interjected, turning to Vicki and dropping the sugary tone. "I mean c'mon, Sis. The best way to relieve stress is sex. There's _no_ denying that."

At this, the older girl couldn't help but turn to her sister and look at her in disbelief. "The Hell would you know? From what I've heard, you and Timmy haven't quite gotten around to your 'roll in the hay', so who _exactly_ have you been havin' sex with?"

"You don't need to have sex to have an org-" Tootie's face quickly turned tomato red. "Y-Y'know what?! That's _really_ not important! How 'bout we just focus on what we were doing?!"

"Oh fine... Where were we again?" Unbeknownst to Timmy, while Vicki was arguing with Tootie, she'd managed to slip her wrist out of his hand, and now held the brunet's right hand in her own.

As all this was going on, Timmy found that, despite the little nagging voice in the back of his head saying something horrible was about to happen, like Vicki and Tootie ripping him in half like a wishbone, he was strangely... Unconcerned by the voice's warning of his possible imminent demise. Here he was, on a hot spring day, holding the hands of his two lady-friends. Both of whom he very much liked. Honestly? If he died right now, at this very moment... Eh, it might not be so bad...

"Ugh... He's doing it again..." Vicki rolled her eyes as she took notice of the glazed-over look in Timmy's eyes, now further compounded by a slight grin on his face. "Hey Twerp, you listening?"

"For... Ah... For the most part?" Timmy mentally slapped himself, realizing that he'd once again missed out on a potentially important conversation topic.

"So you agree?" Tootie quirked an eyebrow up at him inquisitively, a devious grin now adorning her face.

"Y-Yes?" Another gulp, this one quite audible as the teen noticed both girls were now giving him the same devious grin.

"Great! So chill out!" "Sweet! Now cool off!" The two sisters exclaimed as they both yanked him forward, and past them, sending him careening into the pool as they released his hands.

 _SPLOOSH_

Vicki stepped over to the edge of the pool, closely followed by Tootie. For a few seconds, they just watched as Timmy sank to the bottom, evidently in shock at being tricked(yet again). "Dammit Tootie, you were supposed to say the same thing as me." The red-head turned to her sister with a stern gaze and crossed her arms. "And what was with the Arnold Schwarzengerman impression? 'Chill Out'?"

"Well... Y'know..." The raven-haired girl took her glasses off and wiped the excess water from Timmy's splash off them. "Like in that movie where he was Mr. Freeze...?"

"Ugh..." Vicki shook her head in disapproval. "Still would've been better if we'd said the same thing..."

"Could always look at the bright side." Tootie shrugged as she turned her attention back to the pool, her best friend now rising to the surface of the water. "Maybe now he'll start being a little more assertive, and stop drifting off to La La Land so often."

"Silver linings..."

"Pwah!" The brunet finally surfaced, spitting out a bit of water as he did. "Wh-What's the big idea?!" Timmy glared at the two girls standing over him.

"You get any cramps?" Vicki asked in a nonchalant tone of voice, checking her nails as she spoke.

"Cramps? What do cramps have to do with-" _"Oh."_ To his surprise, Timmy found that he felt completely fine. No cramps, tightness, or uncomfortable feelings to speak of... Barring those brought on because he was swimming in his pool, fully clothed. "Argh... Must you prove me wrong in such mean ways?" The brunet sighed in defeat, sticking his hand up out of the pool as he reached the side of it.

"I'm afraid it's just part of my charm." The red-head stooped and grabbed Timmy's hand, nearly effortlessly pulling the teen out of the water and to his feet. "Something you'll have to get used to, since I imagine I'll be spending a _lot_ more time over here, isn't that right, friend?"

As infinitely tempting as it was to throw Vicki in the pool, even if he himself ended up right back in it to do so, Timmy released the girl's hand and instead used both of his own to squeeze some of the water out of his shirt. "Could've at least waited until I got changed... You _do_ know what chlorine does to clothing, right?"

"The only victims here were your shoes. From what I remember, your closet has about ten more copies of that very outfit in it, along with a few pairs of shorts and bathing suits." Actually, she was just guessing, but the fact that she'd never seen Timmy wear anything but a few bathing suits and the pink shirt/blue jeans combo certainly supported her theory. "Now c'mon. Go get changed so we can swim. Burning daylight here." Vicki teasingly shooed the brunet away.

"The pool's got lights in it now... I think Timmy's parents installed them... Last month or something?" Tootie looked to Timmy for confirmation, earning her a nod.

"Mm-hm. If it stays hot into the night, we could probably just stay in the pool."

"Very interesting. Truly. But before we do, we need you-" The red-head poked Timmy's chest for emphasis. "To go get changed, so hop to it, before we roast to death in this heat!"

"Women these days... So impatient..." Timmy chuckled as he made his way toward the back door of his house again, passing Vicki and Tootie, before reaching the aforementioned door and shutting it behind him as he disappeared into the house.

Vicki opted to wait until he'd shut the back door before speaking up in a bored tone, though her gaze remained on the Turner household. "So you gonna bang that guy or what?"

"...Thank you for being... Blunt, about it..." Tootie shook her head back and forth disapprovingly at her sister's chosen phrasing of her intentions.

"I did pretty much tell you you could-!" The red-haired girl jumped as she felt... _Something_ poke her right buttock a few times, making her look over her shoulder and glare at Tootie, who was now grinning in amusement.

"Uh-huh... But I saw the way you were posing for him... _Your_ Twerp?"

Ignoring her little sister's probing remark, Vicki continued to glare at the somewhat shorter girl. "Did you just touch my ass?"

"Poke." The raven-haired girl once again poked her older sister, this time leaving her index finger where it was. "Maybe. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

With a dark and mildly evil-sounding chuckle, Vicki raised her right foot up and moved it back, letting the sole of her foot gently come to rest on her sister's gut. "This." The red-head shoved her foot backward, eliciting a yelp from Tootie as she pushed her into the pool as if performing a mule-kick, though with much less force than the action would normally entail. She didn't want to _hurt_ Tootie, after all.

 _SPLOOSH_

"Gotta be careful, Sis." With her gaze still focused on the house in front of her, Vicki's lips curled up into a full-blown smile. "The edge of the pool can get _pretty_ slippery when it's wet."


	7. Just Say It

Timmy shut the door as he reentered his house, then leaned against it, before rapidly sliding down onto the floor and sitting there; partially due to being soaked, partially due to not quite having the will to stand. A heavy sigh escaped his lips, though it was more of a relieved breath that he hadn't even known he'd been holding finally being released.

Treading water; though only for a minute, had taken quite a bit of energy out of the boy, mostly due to his not so chosen attire, though the fact that the two sisters had surprised him when they pushed him into the drink may have played a role as well.

He was honestly just... Tired. Everything in his life today seemed to be rubber-banding too fast for him to keep up with. Asking Vicki's dad for permission to date her, Tootie rekindling her affection for him without even consulting(and instead, very much blindsiding) him, Vicki assuming he and Tootie were already an item, he and the red-head making an... _attempt_ at being friends, the revelation of his own feelings for Tootie, and finally, Vicki taking complete advantage of the knowledge that he thought she was hot by teasing him and acting... Well, hot!

"Ugh..." Timmy pulled his legs a bit closer to his chest and rested his arms on his knees, then followed the action by letting his head drop down onto his arms. "If I had just told Vicki how I feel from the get-go..." _"She'd probably think you were nuts..."_ The teen nodded in agreement with his inner thoughts. He was still much too young to know what love was, even if he did get an odd, fluttery feeling around his ex-babysitter. "'Least if I could just _spit it out_ I wouldn't be sitting here, wondering if I even have a chance with her... And I wouldn't... Ah..." Another sigh, this one weary and clearly tired. "I wouldn't be sitting here feeling sorry for myself..."

After several more seconds of quiet thought that had begun to border on a minute, the brunet frustratedly ran the fingers of both hands through his hair, very nearly clawing at his scalp. "Think! There's gotta be _some_ way to figure this out!" _"Just like there's gotta be_ some _way to get them both, right?"_ Timmy frowned at himself, or rather, his inner monologue. It sounded far too condescending at times, much like a certain bald friend of his.

So maybe some part of him was holding on to the dream(or fantasy) that he'd get both Tootie _and_ Vicki. Was having a dream like that(a rather perverted one) really that bad? Surely there were worse people in the world that wanted far worse things than that, right? ...Yet how would he even go about suggesting it to the two of them? Timmy stood up, bringing his hand up to hold his chin contemplatively. Even so much as _mentioning_ another hypothetical to Vicki, especially one like... _This_ , was completely out of the question. Which only left him with... The admittedly less rational Valentine sister... "Tootie might be..." The teen was quick to remember the 'incident' in Nasty Burger. He'd played it off to Vicki as not being a big deal... But she was completely right, Tootie's hug had definitely been more... Intimate than what a hug between two sisters should be. Had she been teasing him? Or did she really have other motives when she hugged Vicki?

Good god, was he _actually_ thinking about this?! Trying to come up with and quantify reasons that Tootie might be open to the idea of a three-way with her own sister?! "Maybe I bumped my head when they pushed me into the pool..." The teen rubbed at his forehead, quickly finding that it wasn't sore in the least, and therefore, he couldn't have any form of brain damage, or even a light concussion, meaning his strange, perverted thoughts were most certainly a product of his completely rational mind.

After several more seconds of contemplative silence, Timmy chanced a quick look at his feet, finding that he was rapidly forming a puddle of chlorinated water around them on his kitchen floor. With a shrug, he decided that, since he was already soaked to the skin, he might as well go up to his room and change into his bathing suit. Hopefully his current attire wouldn't be too ruined by the chlorine, but... Vicki had been right anyway. Another ten or so exact copies of the very outfit he currently wore resided in his closet, so if this one was ruined... It would be pretty inconsequential. Making his way through the kitchen and living room, followed by climbing the stairs up to the second floor of his house, the brunet couldn't help but grimace at the wet squishing noise his shoes made with each step...

 _Outside..._

"Fwah!" Tootie's head broke the surface of the water, her glasses miraculously still on her face. "Wh-What was that for?!" She swam over to the side of the pool and latched on with her right hand, then quickly pulled herself over to it before letting her arms come to rest on the side, using them as a pillow for her head.

Not to say she was mad at her sister for pushing her in the pool. It _was_ really warm out, and the pool was a comfortable eighty-five degrees, but it was the principle of the matter! What had she done to deserve Vicki mule-kicking her into the pool?

"For touching my ass, ya little perverted weirdo." Vicki; still only about a meter from the edge of the pool, and currently right in front of Tootie, responded with crossed arms, though her gaze was still focused toward the Turners' house. "And for suggesting 'the' Twerp is 'my' Twerp."

The raven-haired girl scoffed at this as she pulled herself up and out of the pool, ignoring the nearby ladder and putting her right next to her older sister. "Isn't he though?" Tootie asked as she wrung some of the water out of her pigtails.

"Not anymore. I haven't babysat him like I used to in... It's been years now... I'd say he's _your_ Twerp, but he's still got about six or seven inches on you." The red-head at last turned away from the house and faced her sister. "By the way, now's your chance to... Eh?" Vicki casually nodded over her shoulder, more at the second floor window-Timmy's bedroom window-than the house itself.

"Chance to do... What, exactly?" Tootie looked at her sister in a quizzical manner, though she knew _exactly_ what was on Vicki's mind. Forget giving them permission to... Have 'fun', she was practically telling them to do it outright.

"Well... Let's see here... Timmy's upstairs, in his room, probably changing... Meaning he's unlikely to be wearing much in the way of clothing... And if _you_ go up there wearing just your bathing suit... Follow me yet?" Vicki winked, knowing that, at this point, there was simply _no_ way her sister didn't know what she was insinuating.

"Hmm..." Tempting as the situation before her was, Tootie crossed her arms and pouted. Yes, she very well could go up to Timmy's room and... Well, ravish him(or be ravished _by_ him, she wasn't quite sure which of them would be more enthusiastic at this point), but there were still two problems before her, one that she'd begun to foresee, and was still scheming for accordingly... While the other had only recently been brought to her attention, and itself was due to a lack of foresight on her part, how was she supposed to know that Timmy would return her feelings so enthusiastically?!

"C'mon, Toots. This isn't hard to figure out. You want him, he's there-"

"It's not-!" Tootie shouted, cutting her sister off, but soon fell silent and looked away, a barely-there blush adorning her cheeks. "I didn't really... _Plan_ for this going... This way, y'know?"

"I... Don't follow. Is it Shark Week or something? Cuz... I'm good. Dunno about you though." Vicki shrugged and suppressed a chuckle at the confusion on her little sister's face. _"Bet I know where this is going..."_

"S-Shark Week? What the Hell are you talking about?"

"Well... Hm. Might explain why you're so eager to get laid... Though it _is_ odd that you'd be getting it, while I'm not..." Surely she'd given Tootie enough information now, right?

"I-I'm not eager to get laid!" Again, the girl shouted, her blush darkening by the slightest amount. "...Not really, anyway..." Tootie muttered out in a much lower tone of voice, realizing that, yes, there was a certain... Itch that she thought only Timmy could scratch at the moment... But did that make her eager? Desperate even? ...She didn't think so... "Gr...! And you're avoiding the question! What's Shark Week?!"

"When mother nature... Comes to visit? Old aunt Flo is in town? Talking about periods here, Tootie." Vicki finished in a deadpan tone, seeing no other way to get her point across.

"Wha?! No! ...Er... No, I'm- I'm good in that regard. It's- I didn't really think things would be going... As well as they are... Figured it might be a few weeks before Timmy finally notices that I'm not interested in being 'just friends', so I didn't... Ah..." The raven-haired girl tapped her fingers together in embarrassment. "It's... Not exactly... All that easy to get birth control... And I didn't think to pick up any condoms... So..."

"Aha! So the real reason comes out!" The red-head grinned at her sister cheekily, making the raven-haired girl turn away from her and take off her glasses to wipe them off, since they were now both wet from joining her for her little dip, and were beginning to fog up from how hot her face was getting from blushing.

"...Shut up." Tootie muttered as she wiped the lenses of her glasses with her thumb and index finger, seeing as how her current attire wasn't suited for the job. "You and dad have that in common. Teasing me." She clarified as she put her glasses back on, satisfied that they were mostly wiped off.

"I had to inherit _something_ from dear old Pa-pa." Vicki remarked sarcastically. "That and the red hair, I suppose."

Knowing better than to kick the hornet's nest that was the topic of Vicki's relationship with their dad, Tootie glanced up at Timmy's bedroom window, wondering if he was watching them. ...And if he was still clothed.

"...Ugh... You know guys his age tend to have _at least_ one condom lying around, right? Probably keeps the damn thing in his wallet behind his ID or something..." Vicki shook her head back and forth disapprovingly at her assumption of Timmy's predictable behavior.

"R-really? You... Think so?"

"Ayup. That dumbass I used to date did, and I happened because dad forgot his wallet one night when he and mom went out on a date. Think guys save it as like... A rainy day type of thing... Except instead of money, it's a condom." The red-head scratched at her shoulder, finding both were becoming itchy from standing in the sun.

"Alright, I... Wait. What if he doesn't have one though?" Tootie asked with a hint of uncertainty in her tone. It'd certainly be... Nice to do _that_ with Timmy... But she was sixteen and still in high school. No matter how much she wanted Timmy to be 'The One', she _definitely_ didn't want to have kids... For another couple of years... And not just because Vicki threatened her in no uncertain terms if she did.

"He will. All guys do; they're super confident they'll have a chance of getting laid at any time of the day. A man is always eager, Toots." Vicki nodded at her sister, confident that her theory was correct.

"But Vicki... Timmy's... Um..." The raven-haired girl trailed off, wondering about the best way to phrase her next sentence.

"Not exactly a textbook example of a male?" Both sisters spoke simultaneously, though Vicki's response came out as more of a query, while Tootie's was a statement.

"Wh-Yeah..." Again, the bespectacled girl found herself trailing off in her speech. "Timmy's... I'm sure he _wants_ to do that, but you... You tend not to think rationally when your brain's filling up with hormones and... Naughty thoughts. I don't think he's even given _that_ -"

"Can we just call it what it is, Tootie?" Vicki interrupted her little sister, then continued before she could speak again. "It's sex. You want to have _sex_ with the Twerp, and he wants to have _sex_ with you. Wanna say it with me? S-"

"Vicki..." Tootie spoke in a mildly disapproving tone as her cheeks began to pinken once more.

"E-"

"But it sounds so... Dirty to just say it... And who knows if those weirdo Dinkleburgs are listening in..." The raven-haired girl shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with how _comfortable_ her older sister was with saying-

"X! Sex! Now it's your-"

"Ugh! Fine! Sex! There, I said it! ...Jeez... How are you not bothered by saying a word like that in public? It's so... Lewd..." Tootie cringed and shivered, more for effect than anything else.

"Now _there's_ a word _I_ hate. Lewd... Makes my skin crawl just saying it..." It was Vicki's turn to shiver and cross her arms, rubbing her hands up and down her biceps.

"Says the girl who can say a lewd word like sex without batting an eyelash." Tootie deadpanned at her sister's melodrama, ignoring the fact that she'd been doing just the same thing a moment before.

"I think we're getting a little off track here. Weren't we talking about you jumping Timmy's bones?"

"We were talking about how to avoid _me_ getting pregnant... A-Assuming I'm even going u-up there to... Y'know..."

Vicki released a heavy sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "One step forward, two steps back... Well, if he doesn't have any condoms... Um... Tell him to pull out?" Her tone was decidedly unsure as she finished. She'd never been particularly interested in sex education and all that when she'd been in school, but she remembered hearing about the method she'd just spoken of somewhere...

"Agh!" Tootie facepalmed at her Vicki's answer, hardly believing her _older_ sister could be so naïve of such things. "It's a wonder Ricky never knocked you up..."

"Hey, that dumbass and I never had sex. He may have _wanted_ to, but Baby-Dick wanted a lot of things." The red-head felt her anger flare up at how much they were talking about her ex-boyfriend... If he even deserved to be called _that_. _"Maybe he was the one who told me about pulling out... Hm."_

"Well who _ever_ told you that pulling out works is an idiot." Tootie felt her face heat up as she spoke. She most certainly hadn't expected _this_ conversation happening when she got up this morning... "Lemme guess, did you also hear that a girl won't get pregnant if she's on top when she's having sex with a guy?" Tootie shot her sister a knowing look, making a slight blush bloom out across the red-head's cheeks.

"I- It's not like- How did this become about me again?!" Vicki stomped her foot in an almost childish manner as she glared at Tootie. "You... You keep this up, and I'm gonna drown you in the pool!"

"Ooh... Someone's getting a little blushy, Sis..." The raven-haired girl grinned slyly at her flustered older sister. She was beginning to wonder whose buttons she enjoyed pressing more, Vicki's, or Timmy's.

"Oh... Oh, okay, I see how it is. You know what? Fine. Have your Twerpy cake and eat it too. I'm done. Screw him, don't screw him, get knocked up... I don't care anymore." Vicki fanned herself with her right hand, finding that the heat, coupled with how annoying her sister was being, was too much to deal with, she needed to cool off. "I know nothing." With that, the red-head took a step to her right(and toward the pool), then tipped over into it, disappearing beneath the surface of the water.

"Well, 'least there's no shortage of entertainment today..." Tootie chuckled as she turned away from the pool and her submerged sister, making her way toward the back door of the house to go and check on Timmy, and whatever was taking him so long.

 _Timmy's room..._

Timmy shoved the door to his room open as he felt a chill run up his spine. While he hadn't minded being wet and fully clothed at first, the feeling of the soaked, slightly warm clothes rubbing against his skin had quickly become very irksome for the teen, and now he wanted nothing more than to peel them off and toss his naked self onto his bed to think.

Starting with his shoes, the brunet kicked off the soaked footwear and placed them on the windowsill that overlooked the meager excuse of a side yard, then tossed his socks into his laundry basket. His jeans were next, though with them being completely drenched, the task of peeling them off his legs was made significantly more difficult than it should've been. After several seconds turned into minutes, Timmy was finally able to get his pants off, which soon joined his socks in the laundry basket, and left him in just his shirt and boxers. "Phew!" He released a sigh of relief as he moved towards the window that overlooked his back yard, lightly panting all the while. "I am outta shape..."

 _SPLOOSH_

The distinct noise of someone falling into the pool caught Timmy's attention, drawing his gaze to his red-headed guest, yet he also noticed the distinct _lack_ of said girl's sister, so either Vicki had jumped into the pool on her own... Or Tootie had pushed her in, then wisely opted to run for her life.

The short amount of time he'd spent away from the two Valentine sisters had yet to produce any mental fruit, that is, ideas on what he should do, considering his feelings for them. He'd admitted to liking Tootie, both indirectly to Vicki, and very much directly to the girl herself, and he'd dropped... Subtle hints to the red-head that he liked her as well, though it seemed she was either a bit denser than he thought, or she simply didn't feel the way about him that he did about her...

What perplexed him more was the fact that Tootie... Didn't seem to mind that he liked them both. It almost seemed like she was encouraging him to tell Vicki that he liked her... But why would she? It made little sense for her to do that... But this _was_ Tootie he was talking about. The raven-haired girl and an absence of logic or rational thought tended to go hand-in-hand.

The buck-toothed teen leaned forward a little, crossing his arms and allowing them to come to rest on the windowsill, an action that was quickly followed by him resting his chin on the pillow his arms now provided. His blue eyes fell upon the swimming and carefree form of his ex-babysitter, now performing elegant backstrokes in the pool, her eyes shut more in comfort than concentration.

It was hard to believe she was even the same girl who, just a few short years ago, used to torture him so ruthlessly. Her face was too calm and serene, her expression, too happy and unconcerned with the rest of the world's affairs.

Or... It might have been for nearly anyone else. The sixteen year old knew he _should've_ seen her the way Chester and AJ likely did. A demoness just pretending to be beautiful, waiting for her chance to catch you off guard and drown you without even blinking... But she wasn't like that, not really. In reality, Vicki was just... Vicki. A twenty-two year old with tendencies that were fairly normal for someone with her upbringing. She could be mean, and she could be kind. She had feelings, fears, hopes, dreams... Normal qualities for a normal girl...

Yet to Timmy, she was somehow so much more than that, than just _normal_ ; for reasons he himself did not yet fully understand. He was oddly drawn to her; her temper, that softer side that only came out around a few lucky people, her... Body... "Agh... It'd be easier if I knew more about her... Maybe Tootie... Hmph..." The teen stood up straight and began to wriggle out of his shirt, finding that it too had to be peeled off his skin due to the dampness. "Damn... Shirt!" He cursed as the shirt tightly clung to him once he pulled it over his face.

"Want some help?" An amused and distinctly female voice came from behind him, the person's fingers sliding over his shoulders as they helped him out of his soaked garment.

"Ugh! Thanks, Toot-" Timmy began to speak as he regained his vision, but cut himself off and paused as he spun around to face the girl who'd assisted him. "Wha-?! What are you doing in my room?!" The brunet looked back and forth between his ajar bedroom door and the girl in front of him, now shooting him an amused smile.

"Helping you get naked, duh." The raven-haired girl responded in a confident tone.

Rolling his eyes at his best friend's nonchalance and calming down from his surprise, Timmy tossed his shirt into his laundry basket. "Y'ever heard of knocking, Toots?" The teen looked the girl before him up and down. While he'd been outside with her and her sister, he didn't quite have the presence of mind to admire her bathing suit, his brain being more concerned with keeping the raven-haired girl from jumping into the pool and possibly drowning due to a cramp.

Now though... Now he was quite alone with Tootie, and safe from the disparaging remarks he was sure her sister would direct at him if she caught him staring at her little sister. To his surprise, the swimsuit that Tootie wore; the one she'd been fairly keen to hype up since their little unplanned rendezvous in the kitchen, was not all that flashy or provocative. In fact, it was extremely similar to the one Vicki was currently wearing; though, as expected, Tootie's bathing suit was purple, rather than green.

Other than the color though, it matched Vicki's in every way. Same material, same string-bikini design... If it weren't for the fact that this was one of the girls he had feelings for, standing in front of him more than half naked... He might've been a little disappointed that Tootie's choice of swimwear was kind of... Unoriginal. His gaze moved further up, settling on her breasts, and quickly realizing that he'd found another difference between the red-head and her younger sister. While they both had about the same breast size(still odd, considering Tootie was six years younger than Vicki), the raven-haired girl's bikini top fit her better.

Which made sense. Tootie had likely shopped for a swimsuit that fit her sixteen year-old body, and the same was probably true for Vicki... Six years ago. The girl(woman?) was twenty-two now, and, as Timmy had noticed during the drive over from the Valentine household, his ex-babysitter had a body to match her age... One that fit somewhat snugly in her bathing suit. A stretch or flex in the right way, and her boobs would probably-

"I didn't think it was necessary, what with your door being open and everything... And do I even _want_ to know what you're thinking about?" Tootie shot the boy known as her best friend a quizzical yet knowing look as his jaw hung just slightly agape, and his eyes seemed to look past her, rather than directly at her.

Thankfully, Timmy was beginning to realize that drifting off into his own thoughts was more than likely wearing on the patience of both girls, so simply hearing Tootie's voice was enough to rouse him from his imaginings. "...Probably best for me to keep my thoughts to myself..." The teen chuckled nervously, remembering that Tootie was alone with him. In his room. And neither of them were wearing much in the way of clothing. A few pieces of fabric and a foot of empty space were the only things keeping them apart... Well, those, and his self-control, which had begun to wane a few hours ago, and by now was barely even applicable to the situation.

"Nah... C'mon..." The girl's voice took on a sultry tone as she stepped closer to Timmy, pinning him between herself and the wall behind him. "I'm your best friend, remember? You can tell me _anything_."

" _That tone she's using..."_ Timmy felt a weak chill run up his spine. His 'best friend' was actually quite good at mimicking that teasing tone her older sister was so fond of... Or maybe it was simply the situation, and Tootie trying(and succeeding!) to be sexy that turned him on.

Either way, he soon came to the conclusion that he was once again hesitating, and opted to take action, rather than let the raven-haired girl have all the fun. A smirk graced Timmy's lips as he reached out to her, his left arm snaking under her right and settling on her back, just below her shoulder, while his right hand moved a little lower, eventually finding its preferred spot: Gently cupping Tootie's left buttock. With both hands firmly gripping the girl, the brunet pulled her toward him, pressing his body flush against hers as he did.

Tootie; momentarily caught off guard by her friend's bold actions, blushed and let out a small squeak of surprise, but soon settled into the teen's grip comfortably, then chuckled as she felt his skin begin to break out with goosebumps. "Y'know... I'm starting to get the feeling that I turn you on or something..."

Actually, it wasn't having Tootie pressed up against him that was causing the goosebumps... Or... It wasn't _just_ that. Evidently, she had at some point fallen into the pool, as her bathing suit was wet and cool against his skin. "You're _starting_ to get that feeling? ...Jeez, guess I'm not trying hard enough..."

"I know!" The girl played along, rolling her eyes in an over the top manner as she spoke in a matter of fact tone. "You'd better step up your game and try a little _harder_!" Tootie grinded against Timmy as she finished, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from him.

"Ngh... H-hope you know t-two can play at this g-game, T-Toots..." Timmy knew he was blushing now, but that hardly concerned him. He wasn't sure if she was teasing him, or just trying to get him to loosen up, throw her onto his bed, and-... Whatever her intentions were, she was definitely succeeding in turning him on...

"Know?" Again, Tootie chuckled, though it was followed by slightly labored breathing. Her attempt at getting Timmy's motor running had worked a little too well, as that familiar tingly feeling below her navel had returned in full force, likely even stronger since it hadn't been sated the last time. "I-I've been wanting this since our little 'incident' in th-the kitchen... Nevermind know... I'm _counting_ on you playing the game!"

Timmy quickly glanced past the girl in his arms again, taking note of several things around his room; the first and most important being the fact that neither he nor Tootie had bothered to close the door to his bedroom when they came in. Even with the house's only other occupant being outside in the backyard, the teen found he was a little uncomfortable with the idea of just _leaving_ his door open. The next object of interest that came to his attention was his fairy godparents' fishbowl. From what he could tell, Cosmo and Wanda had not yet returned from their vacation. _"Should've asked them how long they'd be-"_ "Ah..." Timmy released a content yet unintended sigh as something soft connected with the skin of his neck. _"Need to stop getting lost in my head..."_ He looked down at Tootie, who was currently placing quick little kisses upon the side of his neck, occasionally lingering with some, occasionally pulling away near-instantly with others. "Hey." Timmy spoke in a mockingly stern voice, making the raven-haired girl take pause in her affection and pull back slightly, then look up at him quizzically.

"Y-yeah?" Tootie looked up at Timmy, mentally frowning at how meek she sounded to her own ears, as well as the height difference between herself and the brunet. She couldn't shake the feeling that; with him being taller, and the mildly husky tone he used just now... Her best friend was... A little intimidating. Not that she was worried he'd hurt her or anything silly like that, just the feeling that _he_ was the person in control of their current interaction, not her.

Timmy found it was hard _not_ to grin at her almost scared-sounding tone. _"What's the best way to break the ice...?"_ He leaned in close, putting his face level with Tootie's and pressing his forehead against hers. "That isn't my mouth." _"Nailed it."_

"Wh-What?" As if to emphasize her shock at Timmy's boldness, the raven-haired girl's glasses chose now to slide down, coming to a stop between her nose and his. "Y-your... Mouth?"

The brunet chuckled as he released Tootie's rear-end, bringing his now free hand up to take her glasses and gently place them on the windowsill behind him. "Those are just gonna get in the way... And yeah, my mouth." Timmy tilted his head slightly, just enough to give him the angle he needed to press his lips to Tootie's. He was officially tired of hesitating. Tired of waiting for the right moment. Tired of thinking and planning every action out... Tired of not just... _Living_. All that mattered to him at this very moment was the girl in his arms, whose lips he could at last taste as he quickly and briefly swept his tongue over them, relishing the taste of what he assumed was strawberry lip gloss and... Something else. Something that was more natural, and certainly less fruity. Something that could only be Tootie herself.

And for once, Timmy felt like he wasn't hesitating, like he wasn't analyzing every one of his actions to death. He was free to enjoy himself, free to enjoy locking lips with the girl that had been his best friend this morning, and was so much more just a few short hours later. Free to let his hand once again find its way to her ass... Free to- The brunet's eyes shot open and saw that Tootie's remained closed, she was clearly content, but he got the sudden inexplicable feeling that they were falling! A fast glance to his left confirmed his suspicion, making the teen twist mid-fall and land onto the(thankfully) carpeted floor back-first, the impact making his and Tootie's teeth audibly click against each others in a mild collision.

"Mm!" Tootie sat up and covered her mouth with both hands, giving it a quick once-over and sighing in relief upon finding no blood or damage. "Jeez, Timmy." She giggled as she lowered herself back down onto the boy, pressing her still damp chest against his. "Never imagined making out with you would be so hazardous to my health..."

"That makes two of us..." The brunet swept his tongue over his own teeth, inspecting them for any damage as Tootie had, then, upon finding he was none the worse for wear, nodded toward his bed. "Mind if we- Uh... Move to the bed?"

Tootie grinned slyly as she pushed herself up and off Timmy, then stood up fully and once again offered him her right hand. "Thought you'd never ask..."

 _Outside again..._

Vicki climbed out of the pool using one of the ladders, then wrung out her hair as she stood on the cement perimeter of the pool. Swimming had tired her out more quickly than she'd expected it to, and now she wanted to rest... She quickly glanced around the Turners' backyard, wondering where Timmy's parents might keep the floats they bought for the pool. "Ti-!" The red-head began to yell for Timmy again, but quickly covered her mouth and stopped herself. "Shit! Tootie and him are probably..."

Mental images of her sister and the Twerp soon invaded Vicki's mind, and quickly progressed further; Timmy laying her sister down on the bed, gently running his hands over the girl's body, under her bikini top and pushing it up to reveal her breasts, Timmy pressing his throbbing member against Tootie's-

Vicki shook her head back and forth, doing her best to dispel her wild imaginings and bring herself back to reality. _"_ _God, I need to get laid..."_ Looking down at her body, the red-head found her nipples to be erect, now making little obvious protrusions beneath her swimsuit. "Turkey's done." _"But... Am I turned on because of... What I was thinking about? Or is it just..."_ "Just the... Air hitting me 'cause I'm wet!" Vicki chuckled nervously. She was _not_ supposed to be having these kinds of thoughts! Thinking about the kid she used to babysit and her sister doing... _That_?!

Another mental image came to mind, this one being an actual memory, rather than her imagination running wild. It was of Timmy... Or rather, a certain part of his anatomy, the outline of which she'd momentarily caught sight of in her kitchen this morning, after his little 'meeting' with Tootie. Her line about a roll of half-dollars... Hadn't been an exaggeration. She obviously didn't have much to compare it to- _"Especially with Ricky coming up_ short _."_ But she was... Somewhat impressed by the apparent size of Timmy's- _"No. Stop it, brain. Timmy likes Tootie, not me."_

A certain tingly feeling just below her navel made itself known, a feeling that the red-head had become intimately familiar with, mostly due to the times she had to... 'Take care' of herself. Her attempt to chastise her own naughty thoughts had apparently fallen on deaf ears to this feeling.

An itch, not unlike the one that had existed in Tootie for a few years now, had suddenly been born in her older sister as well. The thought had never really occurred to her before today, not _seriously_ , but Timmy was certainly... Cute. And he was sweet, nice to her, her sister, and most people he came across, funny, if a bit of a dork(though she liked Twerp better), and- _"And the fact that he's got a decently sized dick ain't bad, either."_ "Gah!" The red-head ran the fingers of both hands through her hair. "Me and... _Timmy_?! Why?!" Once more, Vicki found her wild imaginings playing back in her head, only this time, it was _her_ being lowered onto the bed, _her_ back arching subtly as the teen's fingers glided over her skin, _her_ sex being pressed against by Timmy's throbbing-

"Argh..." Vicki pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed loudly. There was no doubt in her mind that Timmy, the boy she babysat and referred to as 'The Twerp', the only person who'd ever seen her afraid and crying, the same boy who risked his own skin on numerous occasions to save hers- "Oh fuck me... I almost forgot about that..."

She'd dated only one person before, and in every place that Ricky fell short, Timmy seemed to fit perfectly. The brunet was by no means a bad boy or a rebel, the type that she _thought_ she was attracted to... He was too nice, too forgiving and sweet, too much of a goody two-shoes, by-the-book boyscout... And she was attracted to him. Mostly physically, and for want of a good nailing- Vicki felt her cheeks heat up at the thought, finding her own bluntness just the slightest bit disconcerting.

Yet... There was something else too... _"What if that question hadn't been... Hypothetical? Is he...? Could he actually...? Why would he even...? And Tootie... Does she..."_ "No... No way. There's just-" Vicki's mind began to fit the oddly-shaped pieces of the puzzle together. Timmy's strangely hesitant behavior around her, his mentioning of this 'other girl' besides Tootie, offering to buy them both lunch, checking her out all those times, asking to be friends, worrying about them over something as stupid as cramps... "Am I..." The red-head brought her left hand up to her chest and placed it over her heart to feel it beating somewhat erratically. "Is _he_...?" Her tone dropped to a whisper as she looked up at Timmy's bedroom window. "How... How on Earth can I be this _dense_?! I'm blind as a fucking bat!"

Genuine embarrassment at being so naïve quickly made way for anger and frustration as the revelation hit the red-head like a truck. If the looks Timmy had been giving her were anything to go by, he'd been crushing on her for... Quite a while. Months even, and that was just accounting for the times she'd actually caught him! Had she pushed him away without even realizing it? Encouraged Tootie to have sex with him while he still had feelings for _her_?

And... And why didn't he ever say anything? Vicki threw her hands up in the air with an exasperated growl, then made her way toward the back door of the Turner household. She found herself pausing, however, as she opened the screen door and met her reflection in the glass windowpane. "Of course he never said anything... How the Hell would I have responded to him telling me that? ...I probably... Would've laughed in his face..." Vicki felt her anger fizzle out, her rage collapsing under the weight of the guilt she now felt. "Ugh... It's not a stretch to say I'm... An insane choice for someone to even consider liking..." All her past interactions with the brunet came screaming out of the mental closet she thought she'd buried them in, there were so precious few that could actually be called amicable... How could he possibly like someone like her, after all the things she'd done to him? "Jeez... Nevermind telling Tootie to jump his bones... After everything I've done... Heh... I don't deserve someone like him..."

Vicki opened the door, letting herself back into Timmy's house. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt as depressed as she did now. It wasn't that she had some twisted justification for her actions, she'd simply chosen to bury them, rather than fess up. Vicki didn't _need_ anyone's help to feel bad, she could do that just fine on her own... She just didn't want to.

 _'Wanna just bury the hatchet?'_ The words the brunet had spoken earlier that day echoed in Vicki's mind. No, he hadn't expressly said that he'd forgiven her, but 'burying the hatchet'... That was what that meant, right? Forgive and forget? He got over the things she did... So was it maybe time to get over them herself?

The red-head moved into the living room, then approached the closet door beneath the stairs and opened the door before pulling a few of the pool floats out of it. Both were a little longer than her, perfect for lying on.

 _THUD_

Vicki trained her eyes toward the ceiling as the noise she heard was followed by some very Tootie-like giggling. For a brief second, she opened her mouth, ready to speak up about how rough her sister and Timmy were being... But opted against it and simply chuckled as she shook her head. "Might as well let them have their fun... I'll just tease them about it later!" Another evil smile graced Vicki's lips as she stuck the floats under arm and made her way back through the house and out into the backyard.

As she tossed a float into the pool and dropped the other at the edge, she felt strangely... Lighter. If Timmy could forgive her for what she'd done, along with Tootie and her family(her mother, at least), then maybe she could too. "Must be what they mean when they say 'it feels like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders!'." The red-head chuckled humorlessly as she once again tipped over into the pool. _"Yeah right. All I did was trade one concern for another..."_

 _SPLOOSH_

She quickly surfaced and swam over to the float, then climbed onto it and oriented herself to lie on it on her back, arms folded behind her head to use as a makeshift pillow. "Hah..." Vicki released a content-sounding sigh, her eyes eventually drifting over to Timmy's bedroom window again. "You owe me one, Toots." She remarked in a defeated tone as she lifted her head, freeing her left arm and bringing it down to her lower abdomen. The strange feeling, the odd, warm tingling... It was still there. Likely unbeknownst to the teen, Timmy had lit a fire in her, one she was sure he could put out... One that she assumed Tootie had been feeling for the boy for quite some time... And she had encouraged her little sister to take it. "Well... It's Tootie, so... I guess she deserves it." The red-head at last smiled, taking comfort in the fact that, while she might not have that special someone, Tootie most certainly did.

 _Timmy's room..._

Timmy listened as another breathy gasp cut through the silence of his room. Next to him lay Tootie, hair a mess and eyes closed in an attempt to better focus on what the male teen was doing to her. After she'd pulled him onto the bed(and they'd spent several minutes kissing), the raven-haired girl pulled away from the kiss so she could bring up a topic that made them both turn red in embarrassment. This being whether or not he had any condoms, which fully revealed to him that Tootie intended to go... _That_ far.

And the question was only made worse and more embarrassing for the brunet as he sheepishly admitted that he did not. He hadn't expected to bring Tootie up to his room and have sex with her(not before today, anyway), and he wasn't the overconfident type who carried one around for a rainy day... Though he was quick to point out that they didn't necessarily _need_ condoms...

Which was how he found himself in the awkward(though not necessarily unwelcome) position he was currently in: Lying on his side to Tootie's right, still in his boxers, leaning on his left arm to hold himself up, while the rest of the appendage was pinned beneath her. His right arm was the one doing most of the work, however; as it traced slow, lazy circles of varying sizes across her abdomen, occasionally getting teasingly close to the waist of her swimsuit, just barely slipping his fingers into it, before pulling back and returning to drawing shapes in her skin.

It was that action that the teen enjoyed the most, due to the _re_ action he got from the raven-haired girl next to him. Each time his hand swept across her lower abdomen and reached the area below her navel, she would suck in a sharp breath, anticipating, maybe even _hoping_ that this time he wouldn't pull away... Which only made it even more enjoyable for the brunet to move his hand higher at the last second, making the girl release a _very_ frustrated groan every time.

After what had to have been the fifth time inside of a few minutes, and knowing her face was probably rivaling the color of a ripened tomato, Tootie threw her left arm over her eyes in a poor attempt to cover up her blush. "Y-You're enjoying this, a-aren't you?"

Rather than respond, Timmy grinned cheekily, despite knowing she couldn't see it, then dipped his head down low to press his lips to her collarbone, eliciting another light shiver from the girl. Maybe it was because she'd finally gotten what she wanted out of him, or maybe he was just _that_ good at pressing all the right buttons with Tootie... Either way, the girl was putty in his hands, just like she'd been in the kitchen at her house.

"Ah... I-I'll take t-that as a yes..." At this point, Tootie no longer cared if she sounded timid. The things Timmy was doing to her, the way his hands carefully roamed over her body, the kisses and occasional nips he'd been giving her... God, it was driving her crazy! She couldn't help but wonder just _how_ Timmy could be so skilled, despite never being in any sort of intimate situation! At long last, she had the boy she'd been crushing on for over half of her years right where she wanted him! ...Or maybe it was the other way around.

" _So why does something still feel off?"_ With her mind as hazy as it was from Timmy's affectionate gestures, Tootie found it hard to pin down and concentrate on a single thought, but there was still some nagging feeling... Something was eating at her, something strong enough to keep her from focusing on the here and now. Something that... Made this wonderful moment still seem incomplete, made her feel like... Like she was- "Vicki!"

"Wha?!" With lightning speed, the brunet yanked his hand off Tootie and rolled over the bed, away from the raven-haired girl. Once he'd put a few feet of space between himself and Tootie, the teen's gaze shot over to his bedroom door, only to find that it was still closed and locked, no overprotective red-headed sister to be found. His eyes then cautiously swept over the rest of his room, even settling on the window that overlooked the backyard, for fear that she might have propped a ladder against the side of his house to see into his room. "I don't see... Phew... Don't... Don't do that to me..." The brunet chuckled in a relieved tone as his hand fell over his heart, now trying to beat its way out of his chest. _"She must've... Just suddenly thought about her or something..."_

"Oh! Heehee!" Tootie, realizing her error, crawled across the bed on all fours with an apologetic smile, eventually coming to a stop and settling herself next to Timmy, then wrapping her arms around him in a side-hug. "Sorry. I didn't mean to spook you, it's just... Okay, can I ask you something? Something that's gonna sound silly, or..." She felt her cheeks heat up and looked away, trying to think of the best way to word her next question. "Or maybe like... Like a trap, but I'm serious, okay?"

The teen, turning his head to his left to face the girl, let his gaze drop a little lower, and found that his left shoulder was currently nestled quite snugly between her breasts... Which were currently bare, as just before she'd scared the life out him, he'd taken the opportunity to push her bikini up a little and expose them.

Like the rest of his best friend, the two preternaturally interesting mounds of flesh were pale... In fact, they were actually a little bit lighter, leaning more towards a creamy white color than the rest of her. Likely because Tootie's bikini had shielded them from the sun. And; while his current position only afforded him the view of one, both were topped by a pinkish-peach colored nipple, now somewhat erect due to(he assumed) his earlier actions.

He might not have allowed his gaze to remain on them for so long, were this not his first time seeing breasts in real life, along with the knowledge that these were _Tootie's_ breasts... A fact that somehow made them even _more_ interesting. He was no expert when it came to cup size, but his best guess put them at... Maybe B-cup? Or the lower end of a C-cup at most. Hidden by a swimsuit or not, they were far from the ridiculous proportions Vicki occasionally joked about. They weren't what he'd call too big, lit was more likely they just seemed that way because Tootie was a little small for her age.

Timmy felt his right hand twitch unconsciously as another thought came to mind. He wanted to touch them, see how they felt in his hands, how well they fit... The teen's eyes drifted back up to meet the violet orbs of the girl he was sharing his bed with, who was still looking right at him, her left eyebrow raised in intrigue. "Those... Are nice..." He wanted to slap himself for his shameless observation and no doubt goofy grin as soon as the words left his mouth, but he was confident Tootie would do it herself within the next five seconds.

Yet she surprised him not with violence at his perverted ways, but a cute giggle instead. "Why thank you, you sure know how to compliment a girl, Timmy." Pulling a few inches away from the brunet, Tootie fixed her swimsuit, allowing it to cover her once more. "Mind if I ask my question now...? Or... If you _really_ want..." She leaned forward again, giving the string between her breasts; the one that held her top together, a gentle tug. "Eh?"

As much as he really, _really_ wanted to rid Tootie of the now annoying article of clothing, he also recognized the inflection in her tone when she spoke a second earlier. Whatever her question was, it was important, and he couldn't guarantee he'd be in the right frame of mind to remember to tell her to ask it if the girl decided to get rid of her bikini top. "You'd... better ask while there's still some blood going to my brain..."

With no small amount of glee, the raven-haired girl's eyes left Timmy's face, then dropped further and fell upon the more than obvious tent in his boxers. _"Wow... How did we just do all that without me noticing..._ That _?!"_ "Heheh..." Tootie reached her right hand out, stopping mere millimeters from Timmy's erect member. "You... Must be rough... With not enough blood... Reaching... Uhm..."

Timmy shifted uncomfortably on his bed under his friend's scrutinizing glare. Now he knew how she must've felt when he just sat there, staring at her boobs... "T-Tootie? You're... Kind of... Staring..." The brunet looked at the girl, noticing her just barely agape mouth. "And... Drooling..."

"Wha?" At hearing the word 'drooling', Tootie snapped out of her mini-trance and wiped her lower lip. "Sorry, it's just- Uh..." Thinking quickly, the girl reached past Timmy and grabbed his pillow, then dropped it across his lap. "Th-There... Um... What- What were we talking about?"

"You were gonna ask me something? Something that might seem... Silly?" The buck-toothed teen pulled his legs up onto the bed and turned his body to face Tootie's, crossing his legs as he did and keeping the pillow right where it was, hoping that he'd... 'Calm down' soon enough.

"Silly?" _"What could I possibly ask him that would be si- Oh!"_ Tootie bounced slightly as she remembered her question, then stuck her right index finger in the air. "...Right..." Unfortunately, the girl's blush returned almost instantly as she remembered. "Um... How to... Argh... Look, I'm just gonna ask, so don't... Don't try to stop me until I do, okay? It- It might seem weird, but... It's important! Got it?" Her mind now relatively clear of lusty thoughts, Tootie put on her best serious face... Which only served to audibly amuse the teen across from her. "C-C'mon! I'm _trying_ to be serious here!"

Timmy continued to chuckle in amusement at his best friend. Her 'serious' tone had rapidly given way to a less serious, more whiny one. "Hehe... I-I'm listening..." He brought his own right hand up to his mouth, a poor attempt to cover up another growing fit of giggles.

"Y-You'd better be! It's... It concerns you too... And me... _And_ Vicki..." It was Tootie's turn to shift uncomfortably, before settling into a position that mirrored Timmy's. A few more seconds of tense silence passed, making the girl feel nervous and begin to play with her fingers. "Remember how I said I had to ask you something back in the kitchen-"

"Mine, or yours?" Timmy, completely ignoring his friend's request of silence in favor of messing with her some more, interrupted her.

"What now? Mine or- Oh! Um... Y-Yours." Again, the girl shifted about. She had Timmy's rapt attention, and there was no way she could've felt more naked. What she was about to ask... God, Timmy wasn't like most guys... Would he think she was weird for being okay with this? And how would Vicki react, assuming he _was_ okay with it? She'd probably think it was his idea...

"Um... Yeah, you mentioned something about... Er... Tootie, I don't think you mentioned much at all, actually. I was too worried about what Vicki might do to me if I didn't go see what she needed..."

"R-Right... So... I know you like me, and I... I know you like Vicki too..." Tootie frowned as she stuttered and stumbled over her words. She couldn't remember a time where she'd felt as nervous as she did now. But she'd come this far, there was no getting out of it. Deep down, she knew she didn't _want_ to get out of it. She wanted to put her cards on the table, for better or worse.

"Yeah... I-" Timmy trailed off. What could he say? He was right back where he'd been earlier. If it had been only lust he felt for the two sisters... Or even just one of them, he knew it'd be easier than... Than whatever it was now. Of course lust played a part, Tootie and Vicki were both very attractive, gorgeous in their own ways... And Tootie was his best friend, he liked her because he knew she'd stand by him no matter what... Because she _did_ stand by him no matter what, even now, with him being unable to choose between her and her older sister, she didn't fault him for it. Was that love? It sure as Hell sounded like it.

And then there was Vicki. Bane of children everywhere, or so the legends would have you believe. Sometimes he wondered if only himself and Tootie knew what she was really like, if they were the only people that could see past-

"-So if... If you want to give us both a shot... See if we could work... Would you... Wanna try that?"

The male teen snapped out of his thoughts again, realizing he'd once more missed a critical piece of a conversation due to his bad habit of over-analyzing everything to death. Still, he'd caught the tail-end of what Tootie had said, and it certainly _sounded_ like she was talking about the two of them trying for a relationship... "Well... I mean, yeah. Of course I do, Tootie!" Timmy grinned as he moved the pillow off his legs and leaned forward, reached out to the girl sitting across from him, then pulled her over and into his lap so she was(somewhat awkwardly) straddling him. The position put the girl at just the right height so that Timmy could rest his forehead against hers. "I really do like you. You... You mean a lot to me, Toots. How could I say no?"

"R-really?!" Tootie squeaked out, an almost giddy-sounding tone overtaking her voice. "You-You're serious? You really want to give this a shot?" In her excitement, the raven-haired girl began bouncing up and down in the boy's lap, quickly making a certain part of Timmy's anatomy as excited as she was.

"Ye-Yeah, just-! Just stop- Boun-cing!" The brunet gripped his friend's shoulders, making her stop in her attempts to use him as a trampoline.

"Ooh...! _I_ see. _Someone's_ getting frisky again...!" Being unable to resist another chance at teasing her best friend, Tootie gently rubbed her wet swimsuit(and the area between her legs it contained) against his member, eliciting a low moan from the teen as he tightened his grip on her. "Ahah..." She giggled as she felt her light-headedness return. "M-much as I want to... Y-you've got a job to do first... Go and... And tell Vicki you like her..."

Timmy froze as he heard Tootie speak. He... He must have misheard, right? "What? Tell Vicki... But I thought... You want me to tell her... That I like her? What about you? I just told you that I like you... Why?"

For a few brief seconds, Tootie simply stared at Timmy, finding his unsure tone to be the most adorable thing ever. "You... Ugh! Timmy! You did it again!" The girl laughed at her friend as she brought her face a little closer to his, giving her the closeness she needed to rub her nose against his a few times. "There's gotta be _some_ way to get you to focus on the here and now..."

"Er... Did I miss something... Important?" The teen found himself genuinely confused. If she hadn't meant for he and her to be in a relationship... Then did she mean for him to ask out Vicki instead?

"I'd say so. Timmy, I asked if you wanted to see if we could try a relationship. The _three_ of us. As in me-" Tootie fluttered her eyelashes at him. "You-" Then poked his chest a few times. " _And_ Vicki." And finished by nodding her head toward the rear wall of his bedroom, beyond which lay the backyard.

At that very moment, if one could see inside Timmy Turner's head, they'd find his brain, having just crashed into a brick wall going ninety miles an hour.

Tootie, being as close as she was to him, didn't need to. She could tell simply from the blank stare he was giving her, along with the lack of even the beginnings of a response. "Ah jeez... Looks like I broke him." Shaking her head in amusement, the raven-haired girl raised herself up just a few inches, then lightly nipped at Timmy's nose, just enough to make him realize he wasn't dreaming.

"Ah! Ow..." The ten brought his hand up to his nose and rubbed at it.

"Oh yeah! Like that _really_ hurt!"

Timmy heard the girl chuckle as he rolled his eyes and let his hand drop back to his side. "See how you like it when I bite you..."

"Hmph." Tootie pushed him away, making the teen fall backward onto the bed, then climbed off of him and stood up. "I might just hold you to that." With that, she turned away from him and made her way over to the windowsill to retrieve her nearly forgotten glasses.

Timmy; however, was still at a loss for words, and could do little more than stare up at the ceiling of his room. Yet even that was interrupted by Tootie, as her face appeared in front of his with an almost judgmental stare.

"Waiting for an invitation or something? This is what we in the business call: A golden opportunity. An opportunity you're letting slip through your fingers. C'mon, Timmy. I know how you look at me, and I know how you look at my sister... And I can't blame you for that." There was barely perceptible shiver to Tootie's voice as she finished. "So... Put on your bathing suit, get your sweet ass down to the pool, and tell Vicki you like her!"

The brunet tried in vain to wrap his mind around what Tootie was suggesting. "But- but how are you and her- _Would_ you and her...? And... And _me_?!" Timmy sat up and leaned forward to hold his head in his hands. _"Is she some kind of mind reader? How did she know I- Why would she want to- Am I actually just_ this _obvious?!"_ "Tootie... If you and Vicki are-"

The raven-haired girl leaned over toward Timmy as he sat on the bed, then brought her hand up to his chin, forcibly turning his head so he was facing her. "This _isn't_ a trick, Timmy. I told you it might sound weird, but I promise you, it isn't a trick."

" _Wish I could be as sure as you..."_ Timmy stared at his best friend. She looked so determined, so confident. How on Earth she could go from meek and timid as he played with her, to braver than him so quickly... Was a mystery he wisely chose to save for another day. _"Fuckin'... There's no way this will go well, no way_ at all _!"_ "Okay." The brunet nodded hesitantly, making Tootie release his chin and stand up straight. He then swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up from it.

"Just... Okay? You're not gonna ask about... Why I'm so keen on this idea?"

The brunet-haired teen walked past her, over to his dresser, then opened the bottom drawer and took out a dark blue pair of shorts; his bathing suit. "Well... The only real thing I have to clue me in on... Is that*Ahem*hug between the two of you at Nasty Burger. Sisters... Don't hug like that." Timmy paused as he realized he sounded just like Vicki had when she was questioning him about her raven-haired sister's odd habits. "So I figure you either did that to mess with me..." He pulled his bathing suit on, then tightened the strings on it that served as a sort of makeshift belt. "Or..."

"That's a pretty big 'Or', don't ya think?" Tootie cut Timmy off in a deadpanning tone...

...Which earned her a sly smile from the teen. "Maybe I'm not the only one who likes Vicki, _that_ way...?"

"Oh look, the Twerpy detective's trying to be coy." Tootie, channeling her sister just a little, crossed her arms under her ample bust(let's be honest, on purpose) and rolled her eyes, feigning annoyance.

Timmy, not being the type to quite understand nuance, misinterpreted her fake annoyance for _real_ annoyance, however. "I-I'm not saying I'm judging you or anything like that..." The teen looked away as he scratched the back of his head, a meager dusting of pink blooming across his nose and cheeks. "I mean... I'm totally okay with it!" He smiled, making a poor attempt to salvage the situation he wasn't even in.

"Oh _really_?" She gave him that look again, the one where she tilted her head and half-arched her eyebrow in apparent interest. "...Hah, always knew you were a perv!" Tootie met her friend's grin with a smirk of her own.

" _Oh good, we're still just messing around."_ Timmy mentally sighed in relief as the tension in the room dissipated. "You know what they say, Toots. It takes one to know one."

"Yeah, yeah, Hotshot. But you only got one girl." The now once again bespectacled girl stuck her index finger in the air in front of her, emphasizing her point. "But do you have the grit, the gumption, the very _spirit_ to see this through and get her sister?!" Tootie steadily moved forward dramatically with each word, until she was right in Timmy's face.

"You're a dork." The teen deadpanned at her with a flat look.

"Better than a Twerp."

"...Touche. Shall we then?" Timmy swiftly grabbed Tootie's left hand with his right, lacing their fingers together.

"Thought you'd never ask!" The girl giggled as she allowed Timmy to pull her out of his room and into the hallway.

* * *

A/N: Fuck me was this a pain to find time to work on. Don't get jobs, kids. You'll never have time to do anything else... Unless you have a long distance with a beautiful/handsome girl/guy. Then get a job so you can make bank and go visit them. Seriously.


	8. Ask

"Waitwaitwait."

Timmy stopped in his tracks; just in front of his living room couch, as he felt resistance from Tootie, whose hand was still tightly held in his own. He released it as he spun around, the warmth it provided quickly ebbing away. "Something up?"

"I..." Tootie drummed the fingers of both hands against each other, her eyes focused on them, rather than Timmy. "I think... You- No... Um... It might be better if you do this on your own."

"On... My own?" The brunet looked at his raven-haired friend questioningly. "But... Tootie, how do you think this is gonna go if I just head out there and tell Vicki I like her? She's gonna look at me like I'm nuts! ...Which will probably be followed by her drowning me for trying to play the Valentine field..." The teen mumbled out in a less than confident tone.

Tootie, evidently having far more confidence than her best friend, plopped herself down on the couch, making the remote for the TV bounce into her lap. "C'mon, Timmy. We both know she's not that bad... And you were plenty confident up in your room! Just go out there, tell her how you feel... And try to... Y'know, mention the three-way thing."

The brunet shook his head at Tootie's nonchalance at what could very well be him walking right into his own execution. There were times he wished he could have that drive that Vicki and Tootie did, that lack of fear about what could go wrong, and instead always focus on what could go right. It'd... Certainly make quite a few things in his life go more smoothly. "And just _what_ are you gonna do while I'm out there helping Vicki see if I can breathe underwater?" Timmy crossed his arms, shooting the girl now splayed out on the couch a knowing look.

"Me? I'll be... Formulating! A plan, of course. Just a formality, really. I'm sure you won't have _too_ much trouble convincing Vicki of... Well, _you know_..." She smirked and winked at the teen as she finished, her 'plan' already well on its way to being thought out completely.

"...I'm not gonna lie, Tootie. That grin? Makes me a _little_ uncomfortable." Despite the fact that he was talking to Tootie, Timmy had already oriented himself toward the kitchen, and the door within that lead to the backyard, mentally preparing himself for... Well, something.

The raven-haired girl let out an amused sounding hum as she looked over at Timmy, then spoke in a mildly sultry tone. "You play your cards right, and I think you'll have a _very_ comfortable night though, so go on, I've got your back."

Timmy placed his hands on his hips as he looked down at the floor, and his bare feet. _"I'm sure she intended for that to be reassuring..."_ "Think I'll just tell her it was your idea. Might blow over better for me that way." The teen chanced a look over his shoulder to see if he'd successfully gotten a rise out of the girl.

"Hm! Try harder than that, Timmy. I know you wouldn't throw me under the bus like that." Tootie's eyes remained focused on the television, knowing her... It couldn't even be called an argument, was already won. Timmy may have known how to get her riled up physically, but her best friend was so easy to mess with. Probably because he was just _too_ nice at times.

"Oh yeah? You _know_ , huh?" The brunet pulled an about-face, turning to look at Tootie directly. "And what makes you so sure, huh?" He quirked an eyebrow up at her, genuinely wanting to know how she apparently knew him so well(she was right, of course), even though he had a sneaking suspicion that asking... Might be a mistake.

With a somewhat aloof-sounding scoff, the bespectacled girl at last broke her staring contest with the TV and looked at Timmy as she delicately placed the remote on her stomach and folded her arms behind her head. "Simple, really. You're hopelessly in love with me." A sly smile graced Tootie's lips as her answer made Timmy's face change to bright scarlet and look away. "...And my sister."

The sixteen year old felt his whole body flush with heat as the girl finished. He could already feel miniscule droplets of sweat beginning to break out across his skin, even with the house being a comfortable seventy-three degrees. "Shouldn't just throw that word around like that, Toots. We aren't ten anymore, saying 'I love you'... That's kind of..."

"Serious?"

" _She would be the type to finish my sentences for me..."_ "Little bit, yeah." The brunet rubbed the back of his neck, now hot and damp with moisture. "I know I like you both, but... You and I haven't really gone out on any dates, and I've done even less with Vicki..."

"What about your little cuddle session up at the Dimmsdale Ski Resort?" Tootie asked in a purposefully knowing tone.

"How do you-"

"Timmy." The girl dipped her head forward a little, making her glasses slide down her nose again. "Remember who I am? Tootie? Sister of Vicki? I've talked with her about her life enough to be written on paperwork as her therapist. No, she hasn't mentioned any feelings for you, but certain things... You saving her life a couple times... Yeah, we've talked about it."

"Even... The hug?" The teen whispered out, just in case the red-head in question was nearby.

"Even the hug." Tootie rolled her eyes at Timmy's almost reverent tone. "You might be surprised to know... She didn't even lie about it. Probably would've expected her to say she miraculously saved the day, and your ass, but no. The evil babysitter that so many people fear was actually scared she might die." Tootie took pause and shivered, she hated to even think about losing Vicki like that... At all, really. But forgotten, frozen to death in a cave? No one deserves that, and she was truly thankful that her sister and Timmy had been able to get out of that situation.

"...Why are you telling me this now? I know how it happened. I was _there_ , believe it or not. She thought she was going to freeze to death, so I offered that we... Huddle together..." Timmy trailed off, feeling his cheeks flush with heat again. "F-for warmth! Huddle together for warmth..."

"Yeah, yeah... For 'warmth'..." Tootie chuckled teasingly as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, allowing her glasses to tip back into place. This story was old to her, as Vicki was fond of revisiting this particular one fairly often. At first, she just figured that it had affected her sister negatively, and she needed an outlet to talk to about it, but... "You really came through for her, you know that?"

"Huh?" Timmy looked at his best friend in genuine confusion now. "Came... Through? How? All I did was-"

"You offered. Mean as she was, you didn't want her to freeze to death. You never hated her, y'know? Heaven knows she'll never admit it, but she... She kind of admires you. Takes a pretty big person to forgive..." Tootie giggled cutely as she finished. "And who'd have thunk that that very person likes me _and_ my sister!"

Timmy facepalmed at the girl's nearly child-like giddiness. "Tootie, why exactly are you telling me this?"

"Hm? Oh, just thought you might wanna know. I think deep down, my Sis might really like you... Even if she doesn't know it yet. Just gotta give those feelings a... 'Push' in the right direction, like I did you! Know what I'm sayin'?" Tootie offered the teen another wink, accompanied by a smile.

"You want me to just throw myself at Vicki and hang all over her for a few hours?" Timmy shot back, a sly smile gracing his own lips now.

The raven-haired girl shot him a flat look. "Keep that up and the only action you'll be getting is your hand."

"I think you know my hand is quite good at what it does, Toots." Yes, the brunet knew he was just digging a deeper hole now, but bantering like this with Tootie was... Oddly fun.

And Tootie couldn't ignore the shiver that ran up her spine at Timmy's words. He was actually pretty good at touching all the right places on her, even without taking off her swimsuit. "Look-" She flipped over onto her stomach, giving Timmy a rather nice view of her bum, then returned her attention to the TV. "You still have a bad habit of walking around on eggshells when you're near my sister, but you're super-comfortable around me. I'm not saying it'll be easy to just pal around with her, but just pretend that she isn't so scary. You might be surprised how well the conversation goes, 'kay?"

Though he did indeed hear Tootie, his gaze remained on her rear end, it being nearly as interesting as her bare chest had been a few minutes earlier. _"Can't believe I never noticed how nice... It's the kind where I'd love to bend her over the kitchen counter and-"_

"I can literally _feel_ you staring at my ass." As she spoke, Tootie pushed her legs against the couch, raising her bottom into the air by the slightest amount. "You must like what you see..." She couldn't deny the excitement she got from teasing her friend in the way that she was. And it wasn't as if he didn't deserve it, after all the little teasing touches he'd given her, getting her all riled up without any sort of pay-off...

" _Understatement of the year award goes to..."_ "...I gotta go." It felt like he literally had to tear his eyes away from Tootie's rear end as Timmy turned around and made his way into the kitchen.

"Good luck, Timmy!" The girl giggled lightly as she dropped back down onto the couch and bent her legs into the stereotypical teenage girl pose.

"Hah..." The male teen sighed as he reached the back door of his house, butting his head against it as he did. "Suppose I could always try to run my ass off if this goes south..." _"Wonder if Tootie goes south..."_ "Stop it!" Timmy chastised his own naughty thoughts. He was learning far too many things about himself today, and felt that he was better off not knowing many of them.

"Are you still in here? Timmy? Don't go drifting off into your head again! Thought we worked that habit out of your-"

"I-I'm going!" The brunet shot back defensively, a clear hint of nervousness evident in his tone. "Just... Trying to... Mentally prepare myself..." He shook his head back and forth as he finished, then curled his fingers around the doorknob and pulled it open, leaving the relative security of his house behind as he once more found himself in his backyard and shut the door behind him.

Several feet in front of him on the grass lay a few of the pool floats that he'd put in storage the year before, likely fished out of the downstairs closet by Vicki while he and Tootie were in his room... Getting to know each other...

And just beyond them was the concrete perimeter of the pool; which along with the pool itself, really cut down the size of the Turners' backyard. There was certainly less space to run around in now, with the pool taking up roughly seventy percent of the backyard.

Timmy wiped at his brow as he slowly glanced around the yard. Vicki had been right; if it wasn't ninety degrees yet, it would be within the hour. And the warmth brought on by his nervousness was only exacerbated by the sun's rays beating down on him. After a few more seconds, the boy's eyes fell on his target: His babysit- _Ex_ -babysitter, who was currently lying on her stomach on the only float in the pool. She faced away from him, her head resting on her left arm, using it as a pillow, while her right hung lazily over the side of the float in the water.

"Is she... Asleep?" The brunet chanced a look skyward, seeing that there were no clouds in sight. _"She's gonna get a sunburn at the rate she's going..."_ With Vicki's well-being fresh in his mind, Timmy pushed his more nervous and uncertain thoughts away. He'd been sunburnt before, and it _sucked_. He strode over to the pool, stopping just at the edge to try and get the red-head's attention without jumping in, though the cool water certainly looked inviting...

Timmy dipped his foot into the water, finding it to be cooler than the surrounding temperature outside the water, but still very comfortable. "Vicki~?" He spoke in a drawling tone, fighting off the urge to splash the apparently sleeping girl. And it was at this point that the teen noticed something else about her, something that dusted his cheeks with a light shade of pink. Vicki's bikini top was undone. It was clearly still _on_... If pinned beneath her boobs and completely untied could be called 'on'. Obviously she did it to avoid tanlines, but falling asleep like that? What if she turned over, even the slightest bit? Some perv might get a generous look at her chest! _"...Like me."_ "Er... Vicki? Did you fall asleep?" He crouched down now, sticking his hand in the water and making a small splash with it, yet this went unnoticed by the girl in the pool. "...Always were a heavy sleeper..."

Again, Timmy looked at where Vicki was currently floating, in the deep end of the pool. _"Ugh, why am I hesitating like this? I_ can _swim! ...Unless she gets mad I woke her up and tries to drown me... Or thinks I'm trying to sneak a peek..."_ "...Shit." With a deep inhale and exhale, the brunet slid out of his crouch and into the pool legs-first, dropping in up to his neck rather quickly. "G-gah! F-forgot the p-pool water is warmer o-on the s-surface!" He spoke with a shiver as he gently kicked his legs and moved his arms back and forth. While the cooler water below the surface hadn't bothered his feet or legs, a certain area _between_ his legs wasn't so lucky, and his lower abdomen had tensed up a little as well. "Things I do for these two sometimes..."

Unbeknownst to Timmy, Vicki had been awake the entire time, occasionally moving her arm in a subtle manner to keep her face oriented away from the approaching brunet. _"Oh yeah, you do just_ so _much for me, like bother me while I'm trying to relax, screw my sister and come out here a few minutes later... You that desperate to brag about your conquest?!"_ The red-head reflexively squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched up her face. _"Ugh... I shouldn't be so bitchy. He probably... Just wants to ask me something... Doubt he'd actually brag about something like that..."_

"Vicki?"

"Ahfuck!" She jumped as she felt a cool, damp hand come to rest on her shoulder and give it a gentle nudge, instantly making her skin break out with goosebumps as an electric-feeling shock shot up her spine. Vicki immediately turned her head to face the cause of her surprise, who looked nearly as shocked as she felt. "Christ, Twerp! Next time just flip the float over! I think that might have been less effective at scaring the Hell out of me! Jeez..." Her head dropped back down, face-first, onto her arm as she took a few quick but deep breaths.

"Er, sorry. I figured you were asleep, and I didn't want to wake you, but there's something important I need to talk to you about, so I came out here and first thought about splashing you, but I knew you'd get mad if I did that, so _then_ I just tried to quietly get in the pool and make my way over to you, which I did, but I didn't mean to surprise... You... Uh, sorry again." Timmy paused to hold his chin in thought, wondering if there was any part of his quick story that he'd left out.

"Well you did. Next time..." Vicki trailed off as she looked up and rested her chin on her arm, now looking toward the side of the backyard. "Next time just let me be, Twerp."

"Are... Are you okay?" It wasn't hard for the brunet to pick up on a certain odd tone in his ex-babysitter's voice. She sounded... Tired almost. But not in the sense that she'd just ran a marathon or anything, tired like... Emotionally spent. Weary, even. And he was back to just 'Twerp' again. Not to say he had any real problem with the moniker, but Vicki calling him Timmy made him feel like they'd been taking a step in the right direction, more towards friendship, and away from animosity, and the bad memories that accompanied it.

"I'm _fine_."

"So you're not fine." He responded without missing a beat. Young as he may be, he wasn't stupid. When a girl says she's fine in _that_ tone, she never is.

"I'm pretty sure I just said I _am_ fine." Vicki spoke with a hint of that familiar angry edge in her voice as her gaze finally turned toward the brunet. "So what are you-"

"Except you _aren't_. You're acting like you did in Nasty Burger, when Tootie hugged you." By now, the teen had long since moved his hand off the red-head's shoulder, now using both hands to cling to the side of the float while he lazily kicked his legs to aid in staying afloat. "So, as your _friend_ , who cares, I'm asking you. What's wrong?"

"'As your friend, who cares...' You sound like such a sap!" This time, the angry tone wasn't held back. Vicki very nearly spat the words out at the teen. "I wasn't sleeping, I was _pretending_ to sleep so you'd leave. Me. Alone!"

Timmy unconsciously flinched and shrunk back a little at her tone, likely a remnant of the defense mechanism he'd learned from back when Vicki still babysat him. _"Right. Can't forget that she... Gets like this sometimes."_ Much as he was attracted to the red-head, he really did wish she'd be a little more... Forefront with what was bothering her. It'd be better than just getting all defensive without explanation... "...You'll have to try harder than that to get me to go away. I told you I wanted to try to be friends, and I meant it, Vicki." He leaned in again, a confident look on his face as he watched the girl's soften by the slightest amount.

"Grr..." She growled in frustration and opened her mouth to speak, but, after a few seconds, all that came out was a sigh. _"Why do I always get like this? Is it any wonder I don't have too many friends? Everytime someone wants to help, I push them away and get defensive... But what else can I do? Am I supposed to be weak and_ talk _things out? Suppose... It couldn't hurt... Not with Timmy, anyway..."_ "So where's Tootie?" _"_ _Smooth girl, just avoid the issue..."_

"Hm? She's in the house. She... Actually told me to come out here on my own, said it'd be better if I talked to you alone about... What I want to talk to you about..." Timmy looked over his shoulder at his house, seeing that they were still alone in his backyard.

"No doubt getting in a bit of rest after the fun you two had, am I right?" The red-head spoke in an unintentionally accusing tone, her words coming out more harshly than she'd expected them to. Which made her wonder... _"Am I... Jealous? Jealous of_ Tootie _? Sure, she got Timmy, but... Jealous?"_

"Rest? Rest from wha-Oh. Oh! N-no, Tootie and I- We didn't- I mean, we _almost_ did, but we didn't because- Um..."

"Relax. I've been pretty much encouraging you two all day, and you and her _desperately_ need to get that out of your systems. This extended courtship-slash-flirtation thing you've got going on? It's getting a little old. So just tell me the truth, you and Tootie... Y'know...? Horizontal body-shuffle?" Vicki slyly quirked an eyebrow up as she grinned at Timmy, taking some small comfort in being able to tease him and make him squirm. And judging by his rapidly reddening cheeks, he was _definitely_ squirming now...

"No! Tootie and I just- Talked. And maybe kissed... A little!" The brunet quickly blurted out as he again shrank back and sank down into the water to try and avoid an angry(and likely physical) response from Vicki. "And there was... Some touching... But! But we didn't do _tha_ -"

"Sex, Twerp. It's called _sex_. You and Tootie are so odd like that. Absolutely desperate to jump each others bones, but too prudish to call the act what it is..." The older girl shook her head back and forth in an almost disapproving manner.

"We- We didn't have sex... And the reason why is partially why I'm out here... Or... Uh... Mostly why I'm... Out here." Timmy's voice was barely above a whisper by the time he finished; both arms now crossed and resting on the float, acting as a pillow for his chin. "I wanted to a-ask you if y-you might, um..."

"Oh god, you don't have condoms, do you? Dammit, you _would_ be the _one_ guy who didn't keep that 'lucky condom' in his wallet, wouldn't you?" Vicki facepalmed, realizing she should've known by now that Timmy was the exception to a lot of preconceived notions she had about males. "And seeing as how you're... What? Sixteen, right?" Vicki asked in a teasing tone, earning her an eye roll from the brunet, but he did smile at her joke. "You want your soon to be sister in law to go get you some so we don't have to hear the pitter-patter of little munchkin feet, right?"

"Munchkin feet?" The teen questioned in amusement. "You call babies 'munchkins'?"

"Yeah, I do. Something wrong with that?"

Timmy shook his head back and forth at Vicki's narrow-eyed look at him and chuckled. "Nope. Nothing at all. It's kinda... Cute, I guess. Unexpected, but cute."

"Great. The Twerp finds me cute." Vicki scoffed indifferently. Were she not so positive of Timmy's feelings for her sister, she might care more about him finding her cute, but her chance was gone, slipped between her fingers without her even realizing it was there, not until it was too late, anyway. "Look... Just gimme a few minutes, and I'll go and get them. I'm a little too young to be an aunt just yet."

"Ah... Alright, but..." The brunet scratched the back of his head, unsure of how best to word his next sentence. "I appreciate that, but um... I didn't come out here to ask for... Condoms..."

"Why? You actually _want_ to have a kid with her or something? Don't think you're a little young for-"

"I didn't mean-!" Timmy's blushed bright red at Vicki's question. "That's... Jumping a little too far into the future for me. I can barely think a week ahead of time, nevermind... Serious stuff like that. I mean, I like Tootie, but... There's still the-"

"Oh... I see. Still the matter of that _other_ girlfriend of yours, right?" The red-head asked knowingly. _"Could he still...? No, no I've got to nip this in the bud before he-"_

"She... Isn't my girlfriend... Like I said, I don't even think she knows I like her..." The teen's voice took on a more somber tone as he finished. Here he was, right in front of his other crush, and the girl that he knew he could probably never have, now that he'd essentially made her think he and Tootie were... Planning on messing around soon... _"Why is this so hard to say?! So what if_ _she's_ _mad? She won't kill me, right? I'll probably get an earful, maybe a slap, but she wouldn't actually hurt me for real, so why can't I just-"_

"Twer- Ngh..." The red-head sighed, wishing she could just avoid and forget this whole conversation as she looked at the Twerp... _Her_ Twerp. _"Not anymore..."_ "Timmy. I know who it is."

"...What?" Timmy asked dumbly, being completely unprepared for not only getting caught off, but for Vicki to actually know that-

"It took me... Longer than it should have to realize it." She sighed loudly before continuing, knowing the conversation she was about to head into... Wouldn't be an easy one. "All those little stares, occasionally watching me when I relaxed on the couch in the living room, your 'hypothetical' question today, the way you act around me... I figured it was just... Just stupid teenage bullshit. Some little crush you had that you'd get over or... Or..."

"Hormones?" Timmy spoke up, having heard _that_ excuse far too many times to count. Everything in his teenage years could be attributed to hormones. Growth, interests, feelings... Sometimes he wondered if people would start blaming the weather on his hormones too.

"I dunno if I was in denial, or just... Too stupid to see it." Again, Vicki laid her head down, face-first onto her arm, this time groaning as she did. "And lets not forget how many times you've pulled my ass out of the fire... Sometimes literally." She felt her cheeks heat up at this. The red-haired girl and humility were not on the best of terms. "Which is why... I am flattered that you... That you like me, but... Shit, I'm glad Tootie got to you before I figured it out. You're... A really good kid Timmy, and I'm... An insane choice for someone like you. Look at how easily I blew up at you just because I thought... Something stupid." She shot Timmy a sad look as she finished. _"_ _It might've been... Nice to try something like that out, but..."_

"So..." The teen started, but paused and instead began mentally counting the freckles on Vicki's shoulder. _"What can I even say? She seems pretty sure of herself, and if I- ...Ugh. I came out here to say something... And I have to see this through, for even the slim- Impossible chance that it might work."_ "You know you were- Er, _are_ the other girl then, right?"

"Yeah... It's pretty obvious at this point. Seriously Timmy, just... Try and get over this crush or, or whatever it is, alright? Tootie and you... I think you've got a real shot, and she seems happy around you. She's finally got this guy of her dreams who's sweet, caring, looks out for people, can be brave... While still being a Twerp..." She let out a small chuckle as her comment made the teen pout at her. "I want her to be happy, and if anyone can make her happy, it's you." Vicki smiled warmly at Timmy as she finished, happy she was able to for once, say something genuinely nice to the teen's face, rather than during her little private talks with her sister.

"But what about you?" It was Timmy's turn to speak in an almost accusatory manner, this time making sure he looked Vicki right in her eyes.

"What about me what?"

"You don't think _you_ deserve to be happy? You've always been the type to take what you want without thinking it over, and I... I envied that about you. You don't sit around thinking your next action through like I do, you just do... Whatever."

"Normally... You'd be right. Hell, I can't even say my happiness shouldn't come at someone elses expense, because... I mean, I am _me_ , after all." The red-head's lips curled upward into a wistful smile. "...And maybe... Maybe I do like you, Timmy. Just took me a little too long to realize that a lot of the stuff Tootie sees in you, the stuff that makes you a great guy... I suppose it might be nice to be with someone who actually cares about me, rather than just getting his dick wet... Hehe... And speaking of... You're no slouch in that department, are ya? I think I know the more... _Physical_ aspect as to why Tootie likes you..." She laughed as Timmy's face again rivaled the color of a ripened tomato.

"And you say _I_ was checking _you_ out?" The teen turned away, suddenly finding the fence far to his left much more interesting than the half naked girl in front of him.

"Hey, you can't blame a girl for staring. Call it... 'Art appreciation', I know you do it to me pretty often!" A wicked but teasing smile broke out across the twenty-two year old's face.

Timmy felt his cheeks heating up again, and that nervous warmth breaking out across his body, even in the cool-ish water of the pool. Partly because he just now realized that his little stares at Vicki hadn't gone as unnoticed as he thought, and partially because she- The 'other one', as Tootie had referred to her earlier that morning... Actually admitted to _maybe_ liking him too. "You- You still haven't told me what you were so... Pissed about."

"Eugh... Right. _That_." Vicki again turned away from the teen. _"Should I really tell him? He's... He's only gonna think worse of me if I do."_ Her gaze drifted back over to Timmy, who was staring at her curiously, a moderately obvious blush still coloring his cheeks. _"...Why do I find those teeth so cute?!_ _They're big and so obvious; you could probably land a small plane on them, and they're... Cute?!"_

"Not to uh... Break your concentration, but... Do I have something on my face?"

"I was mad because I thought you were coming out here to brag about nailing Tootie." Vicki suddenly blurted out, making her promptly cover her mouth with both hands and shoot Timmy a wide-eyed look, hardly believing she'd admitted her reason so easily. "I uh..." She moved her hands off her mouth to speak, but they still covered it, making her words come out in a mumble. "I probably should've kept that one in a thought bubble..."

Even Timmy felt dumbstruck by his ex-babysitter's confession. _"Could this day get any weirder? She likes me and she thought I'd- Wait. She thought Tootie and I... And she was mad because-!"_ "Vicki?"

Moving her hands away form her mouth, Vicki brought them together and began nervously drumming her fingers against each other. "Uh... Eheh... Yeah?" The red-head frowned as her voice cracked, making her sound... Certainly not twenty-two. She almost sounded like she was just a kid, barely over ten years old.

"Were you- _Are_ you... Jealous? Of me and Tootie... Dating?" There was a hint of uncertainty to his tone, though unbeknownst to Timmy, he'd hit the nail on the head this time.

" _Twerp's too smart for his own good! No way can I say I am! Don't say anything! Just tell him no! Save yourself the trouble, and Tootie the heartache in case he wants to jump ship for_ any _reason!"_ Vicki's conscience berated her, knowing deep down that she wanted Timmy, but not at the expense of Tootie not having him. Her little sister had been chasing this boy for _years_! She couldn't do that to her, just swoop in and steal him from her! "A little." Her mouth betrayed her mind. She wanted to slap herself for that one...

"Oh... Uh, wow." Timmy wiped his hand, now cool from the water, across his brow.

"You sound relieved..." The red-head muttered out with the slightest hint of bitterness in her voice. "Ugh, I told you earlier... Even though it was an accident, I do think you're... Kinda cute... S-sometimes!" She clarified, her own cheeks now racing to match the color Timmy's had been a moment earlier. "And... From what I know since I practically raised you... You're not a moron, and you're not an asshole, either..." Vicki jumped as she felt a cool, wet hand touch her... Actually, two of them, both gripping her arm gently yet firmly, and practically clinging onto her for dear life. It was enough to make her jump, though only slightly. "What are you do-"

Timmy, seeing his chance, leaned in, putting his face mere inches from Vicki's. "I want to ask you something."

The girl's pink eyes met Timmy's blue, momentarily doing little but stare into them. "...O-okay... What... is it?" She was met with an odd look, one she'd have a hard time describing later, she knew that for a fact. The teen's face was... Somehow really intense, like his next question was of the life or death variety, yet there was a certain... Glint in his bright azure eyes, a sparkle of giddiness, it seemed.

"Okay, so um..." Timmy let out a shivery giggle, hardly believing that Tootie... Might actually be right. "This is gonna sound... Crazy. And you'll probably think I'm an asshole for saying it, but just uh, heheh... Let me say it, and finish before you... Do anything rash?" The brunet's sentence was finished in a pleading tone, knowing that he wouldn't be on thin ice if this didn't go _just_ right, he'd be walking on water, and could fall in at anytime.

Vicki looked at the teen quizzically. "With how strange you're acting, I'm not promising a damn thing, Timmy." She felt goosebumps break out on her captive arm. The way he was looking at her... Was both weird, yet somehow exciting.

"Right... Um... So I was wondering if you-" Timmy paused, carefully thinking over his next sentence. It was tempting to involve Tootie, tell her older sister that it was her idea to have him come out here and ask if they'd be interested in trying... Whatever they were going to call this. A love triangle where everyone knows? But without the violence? A consensual three-way relationship agreement?

But the raven-haired girl was right. He wasn't going to throw her under the bus, he'd just calmly explain to Vicki that he really like them both, and ask her if she wanted to try this... Thing.

"Timmy? You're gonna give me weird tan lines at this rate." Vicki spoke up, a clear hint of amusement in her voice.

"Hm? Oh, sorry. I was just- Okay, you know I like Tootie, right?"

"Oh my god! A confession at last!" The red-head shouted dramatically, a victorious(and maybe a little teasing) grin on her face. "Yeah, couldn't make it more obvious that you do if you took a big mallet that said you like her and hit me over the head with it."

"A-and... You know I like you too, right?" The brunet felt his nerve begin to rapidly lave him, if he didn't just say what he needed to say soon, he might just decide against doing it and forget the whole thing.

Vicki glanced away with a pained expression. "Timmy-"

"I asked that you let me finish. Please?"

Even with her having known the teen for about eight years, his current tone was one she couldn't quite say she recognized. It was... Worried. Or... Pleading, almost, that word fit it better. And Timmy _never_ pleaded. Not once in all the times she'd teased him, tortured him, threatened him... Frankly, it kind of scared her, to some small extent. With a dramatic huff of air through her nose, Vicki nodded, allowing Timmy to continue.

"So, with that in mind, and how Tootie's been... _Acting_ around you... Would you maybe... Want to try for a relationship-type-thing?" The brunet's voice dropped off to a near whisper as he finished, making him briefly wonder if he'd spoken loud enough for his ex-babysitter to hear him.

Yet the only response was tense silence, aside from the slight noise given off by the pool filters. Silence that clung to the air around them for far longer than it had any right to, leaving both parties; Timmy and Vicki, merely staring at each other for a full minute, before-

"You wanna run that by me again?" The red-head questioned in a completely disbelieving tone, like someone had just told her their stepmother was married to Bigfoot. _"No way, no_ way _did he just ask me that._ Why _would he ask me that? Tootie and I are close, but... Did she tell him to come out here and just ask me... If I wanted to date him instead? Or does he think he won't be happy with Tootie? Does he maybe like me more than her?"_ "J-just to c-clarify... You want to dump Tootie..." Vicki grimaced, the statement tasting bitter in her mouth. "And... And date me?" She was unable to push out the slightly flattered squeak at being chosen over her sister, much as she didn't want... Whatever sounded like was happening.

"Wha-? N-no, I- I mean... I wasn't thinking me and you, I was thinking me and you... And Tootie...?" Timmy finished with a squeak of his own. Relieved as he was at finally getting the question out, he was now mere moments from dealing with the fallout of said question. "L-like, y'know... The three of us?"

Again, Vicki found herself speechless. Leave it to her Twerp to completely subvert expectations and turn what she thought she knew about him on its head. Though this wasn't necessarily a _good_ subversion... _"Gotta admit, it took some balls to come out here and ask something like that."_ The older girl's inner voice, her 'conscience' she supposed, sounded almost... Impressed? What was impressive about a sixteen year-old trying to fulfill his wet dream fantasies of a three-way?! "Ahah..." The red-head laughed in what could best be described as an aloof manner. "Timmy?"

"Y-yeah?"

She could feel a slight twitch in her forehead, likely blood rushing through a vein. In her opinion, it was a shame how cute and hopeful he looked, because now- "I hope you can breathe underwater."

"Breathe under-" Timmy began in a now confused tone.

Vicki's bright pink eyes, filled with confusion mere moments before, now flashed dangerously at the brunet. "Because I'm going to _kill_ you for asking me something so _stupid_!"


	9. And You Shall Receive

A/N: This is the part where I tell you we're working with an M-rating from here on out. Because Tootie. :3

* * *

"Hm..." Tootie hummed to herself as she lay on the couch, her position unchanged from how Timmy had left her. By now, she was growing a bit bored. _"What's taking those two so long?_ _He went out there... Fifteen minutes ago? Feels longer..."_

What bothered her even more was that it was so quiet. By now, she'd expected to either hear her sister screaming at Timmy, or for the two to calmly come back into the house, all smiles and completely on board with the idea of a three-way relationship. _"Well... Not really."_ Tootie admitted in her head. "Vicki's probably gonna go with the nuclear option and murder Timmy. Or try to, anyway..." Despite the dire events she'd just spoken of, the raven-haired girl wasn't _too_ worried about her best friend- "Huh... Should I start calling him my boyfriend?" She flipped over to lay on her back, bringing her right hand up to her chin in thought as she did.

It was true that her and Timmy hadn't gone on anything that could _technically_ qualify as a date. Not the strictly romantic sort, anyway. Sure, her, Chester, AJ, and Timmy had hung out more times than she could count, and she and Timmy had also been together as just the two of them on more than one occasion, but of course, she had to suppress certain mannerisms and... Urges then. One slip-up could spell disaster for her friendship with the brunet.

And in all honesty? She was absolutely thrilled that all that was behind them. Timmy knew for sure that she liked him, and not only did he _not_ reject her, he actually _returned_ her feelings! "Heehee!" Tootie wrapped her arms around herself as a mild shudder ran through her body.

Of course, happy as the girl was with how well the day was going, she knew her work wasn't done. Timmy was on board, and she obviously was, but her older sister was the one who posed... A problem. Though Vicki wasn't the type to follow traditional ways of thinking, nor was she a stickler for rules and the like, the red-head likely wouldn't be as keen on the idea as she and Timmy were. In fact... "Ugh... Why did I send him out there alone?" Tootie groaned and facepalmed. _"As if I don't know why..."_

No, Tootie didn't necessarily have _all_ the answers(well-informed as she seemed to be at times), but she did think she knew her own mind pretty well, and she certainly knew the reason she didn't join Timmy out in the backyard. This reason being that she wasn't quite sure what to say to her sister. Like most people(or so certain internet sites she frequented would have you believe), she had a... Kind of attraction to the same sex. Not that it was something she'd ever acted upon; she'd always been more drawn towards males- _Timmy_ , rather than any girls she knew, but she could safely say that she was open to the idea of being intimate with another girl, assuming it was someone she was comfortable with, and knew.

So in that regard, her openness to this type of relationship with her sister and Timmy wasn't so odd, not to her, anyway. Not like there were very many girls she was close to, and knew on a personal level other than her older sister. "Hah..." Tootie sighed, a noise somewhere between tired and content. "...Maybe it's just easier not to think about it."

 _SPLASH_

"Hm? Well there's something..." Tootie leaned up, intending to get up off the couch and see what had caused the large splash. "Jeez, I hope Vicki isn't too harsh with him..." Just as she was about to sit up, the commercial on the TV ended, and the show she'd been watching came back on, which naturally caught her attention. "Oh... I should go see..." Tootie looked toward the kitchen, then back at the television. "But I _really_ wanna see how the Doctor gets out of this mess!" She dropped back down onto the couch, feeling that knowing the fate of her favorite TV show character was more important than ensuring her boyfriend's(?) survival.

 _Outside..._

"Gah!" Timmy sprang back(to the best of his abilities, since he was in about eight feet of water) by pushing himself away from the pool float and kicking his legs with all his might, sending him a few feet away from the red-head, whose hand had missed him by mere centimeters. For a moment, her nails looked more like claws, and the teen was sure she would have rent his flesh had he not moved. "Vicki! I-" His mouth was left agape for a moment as he realized his ex-babysitter was gone, the pool float she occupied now alone and forgotten.

 _Thud_

"Fah!" Timmy nearly swore as his back collided with the side of the pool, his momentum having carried him away from where he'd been. The teen looked over his shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief just as he heard another, much quieter sound of the water in front of him shifting. The next thing he felt were pleasantly cool fingers wrap around his neck, firm enough to retain their grip, but gentle enough to keep from causing discomfort. It terrified the brunet to think of just _how stealthy_ Vicki could be. He hadn't even noticed her slip into the water and swim over to him!

"How ya doin'?" Vicki asked in a friendly, yet somehow icy and even tone. Her eyes, normally relaxed and calm, had become just the slightest bit more vibrant as they seemed to almost stare _through_ the teen, though they were focused on his own fear-stricken blue orbs.

"Oh, y'know, 'bout three seconds from having the life strangled out of me by the girl I have a crush on. Normal everyday stuff, right?" While she wasn't currently crushing his windpipe, the teen still found he was barely able to speak, his voice coming out as a somewhat pained squeak.

"Correction: _One_ of the girls, idiot." Currently, the older girl's left hand was the one holding the teen's neck, while she used her right to hold onto the edge of the pool and stay above the water. "I honestly sympathized with you when you told me you like my sister and some 'other' girl, and you scored yourself some major points when you told me you weren't pissed at me for all the shit I used to do to you, and wanted to try being 'friends'. But _this_? Timmy, let me ask you, are you out of your _fucking_ mind? Hit your head wrestling with my sister? In what possible _universe_ do you think asking me to join in on some perverted little fantasy of yours would work? I'm _genuinely_ curious." Vicki punctuated each sentence by tightening her grip ever so slightly on the teen's neck, though her grip also slackened as she began each new sentence.

Knowing his only chance to get out of the situation relatively unharmed was to answer the red-head's question, Timmy audibly gulped and licked his lips nervously, finding they'd quickly dried out, likely from sheer terror. "I-I didn't hit my h-head, and I-" The brunet took a moment to suck in a shallow breath, earning him a glare from his captor, who was clearly losing her patience. "I obviously thought this universe would be the one." He shot back defensively, having no witty comeback at hand.

" _Obviously_." Vicki mocked Timmy's tone. "Tell you what. I'm curious, and this sounds like an interesting thing to carve into your tombstone, so please, enlighten me. I want the truth of just _what_ you were planning, and how you _thought_ it would play out. Maybe if you're lucky, I won't kill you, I'll just calmly tell Tootie what a pervert you are, and we'll leave, then the only company you'll be getting is your hand!" She was absolutely fuming now, the red-head couldn't remember a time where she'd felt as angry as she did now. All those nice things about the brunet in her grip were quickly forgotten, and rightfully so, but some part of her was willing to hear him out, since, mad as she was, she was still a curious girl. "Talk."

"I was-" The teen spoke, yet paused once again, closing his mouth this time to keep from looking like a gaping idiot. After several moments of silence, he sighed. _"What can I say to get out of this?! I knew Tootie should've come out here! Least then I wouldn't be seconds from getting strangled!"_

"I see your brain chugging along, but your mouth's not moving. I'm being _real_ generous giving you the benefit of the doubt that you _clearly_ don't deserve, so if I were you, I'd start talking." Vicki spoke impatiently, realizing she gleaned no pleasure from grilling the teen in the manner that she was. It was hard for her, even now, to truly hate Timmy, as Tootie liked him, and the older girl herself knew that he had redeeming qualities, he wasn't _really_ a bad person, he just evidently wasn't as intelligent as she gave him credit for. _"Okay. Deep breath girl. You're angry right now, but that doesn't mean you have to be so damn violent! Timmy's not gonna try to run, and you're not helping him talk with your fingers wrapped around his neck..."_ With a heavy sigh that mimicked Timmy's own, Vicki slowly( _very_ slowly) slid her fingers off the teen's neck, moving her hand to the edge of the pool to mirror the position of her right. "Better?"

"...Thanks..." Timmy replied with a whisper and a nod.

"Don't think this means you're off the hook, not for an instant, got me? I still expect an explanation for that very _stupid_ request." With her arms now effectively trapping Timmy where he was(unless he went under the water), the red-head leaned in ever so slightly, still leaving a dozen or so inches of space between the teen and herself.

"Well I- I already told you, I like you _and_ Tootie. You can't fault me for that-"

"Wanna bet?" Vicki cut in, narrowing her eyes at Timmy as she did. "I dunno what kind of view your parents taught you..." _"News flash, they didn't."_ She frowned as her conscience chastised her again. Of course that was a dumb subject to bring up, Timmy's parents couldn't be bothered to make time for their son, nevermind have a conversation with him about normal relationships. "...But... I mean, you must know this type of thing... Isn't a thing, right? ...Unless we're talking about certain religious circles..." Vicki trailed off as she glanced to her right. _"Oh, now you can't quite face him? I wonder why...?"_

"No, I know all that... I'm not a complete idiot, Vicki. You're acting like... Like I'm just trying to have sex with you and Tootie!" The brunet shot back somewhat more forcefully than he intended, due to the fact that Vicki seemed to be under the assumption that he was only taking himself into consideration.

"Are we gonna forget that I've _seen_ the way you look at me _and_ her?" The red-head questioned, her tone more even than earlier, less icy too. _"Okay, so he's thought about this... For how long? Since I first noticed him checking me out? When Tootie- Did that_ hug _put this idea in his head?"_ The memories of her sister's little stunt in Nasty Burger came rushing back to Vicki. The hug that had seemingly enraged her at the time, but in actuality, had confused her to no end.

"N-no, I can't- I can't help _that_. You and Tootie are both..." The teen paused, trying to think up the best way to compliment the two Valentine sisters without causing more attempted strangling. "You're b-both _very_ attractive, s-so yeah, it's fair to say I've been checking you two out, but it is more than just... Just physical attraction..."

"Right, I'm sure you like Tootie quite a lot, since all you'd have to do is ask, and she'd probably drop her panties for you." The older girl couldn't help but notice that, once again, her voice sounded bitter in her ears. _"Ugh. Fine. So I'm jealous... And maybe a little horny. That doesn't excuse-"_

"And you're probably right, Vicki." Timmy spoke in a tone sounding of mild exasperation. "I'm not gonna say I don't want to do that with Tootie, alright? I do. And she does too, she's made that pretty obvious today, but even though that's true... I do want a real relationship with her. More than just screwing around, and she told me-"

"Hey! You two makin' out over there?!"

The relative silence between Timmy and his ex-babysitter was broken by a playful yet shrill voice calling over to them from the direction of the Turner household. Both the teen and the girl holding him captive looked toward the house, seeing their little group's third member; Tootie, standing in the house's back doorway, an accusatory look on her face, her hands resting on her hips.

"Better not be!" Tootie giggled as she took a few steps onto the grass, happy that she'd been quick enough to keep her boyfriend from getting murdered. "Well... Hehe... Not without me, at least...!"

An exasperated sigh brought Timmy's attention back to Vicki, who now hung her head down, eyes closed. "God, does she have to be so _weird_?"

The teen relaxed, knowing that, from the sound of the red-head's voice, she had calmed down some, and with Tootie nearby, _probably_ wouldn't do anything to hurt him now. "Wouldn't be Tootie without the weirdness." Timmy chuckled. "'Sides, I think it's kind of endearing when she's acting weird, don't you?"

"Hmph." Vicki moved her left arm and slid to the right, then pulled herself out of the pool. "You're still not off the hook, Timmy. You've got some explaining to do..." She looked over at Tootie, who responded to her gaze with a cheery wave. "You _and_ my sister..."

He watched her move toward Tootie, then sighed once he was sure she was out of earshot and sank into the pool, just past his mouth so he could blow bubbles up from the water. _"Least I survived that."_ The teen sighed again in relief, this time mentally.

 _Tootie and Vicki..._

"So what're you two talking about?" The raven-haired girl, despite knowing the look on her sister's face was not a happy one, spoke in an interested and giddy tone, pretending she had no idea why her older sister would be angry.

"This idiot-!" Vicki began in her same annoyed tone, but took pause, leaving her mouth agape for a second before she thought better and closed it. _"I_ should _just tell her... But maybe... He deserves a chance to explain himself, at the very least."_ "You and him need to have a talk. I'm gonna go inside and relax for a few, I'm tired from swimming and laying in the sun all day, might order pizza or something." She began to move past her sister, only to be stopped in her tracks as the girl suddenly moved in front of her, arms crossed and a sly smile on her face. "What?"

Tootie paused for a brief moment, looking her older sister up and down, before settling on her face, her violet, bespectacled eyes meeting Vicki's pink ones. "Everything okay?"

"Fantastic. _Move_." Again, the red-head tried to move past Tootie, but was again stopped in much the same way as before. "Tootie-"

"Okay. I came out here to find you _really_ close to Timmy's face, so either you two were making out and you're embarrassed that I caught you, _or_ you're pissed at him for something. So I figure I can get your version _and_ his, or just his."

"Then get his. I'm not saying a word until you and he have talked about- _Things_." This time, Vicki gripped her younger sister's shoulders and physically moved her out of her path, then quickly made her way over to the back door of the house.

"Hey Vicki?" Tootie called out, her voice tinged with amusement.

"Yeah?" The red-head turned back to face Tootie just as her fingers gripped the doorknob.

"Nice rack." The raven-haired girl brought her hands up to her own chest, giving her breasts a light squeeze as she winked at her sister.

"Wha...?" Looking down to the aforementioned area, Vicki at last realized why she felt an odd, cool sensation now that she was out of the pool. She undid her bikini top to keep from getting tanlines, and in her anger at Timmy's query of a three-way, had left it on the pool float she'd been occupying, where it still remained, leaving her quite naked from the waist up. This realization, along with the air hitting her damp skin, made goosebumps flare up across her body as her face changed to a color more befitting a ripened tomato. "D-dammit Tootie!" Vicki quickly opened the door and darted into the Turner household, slamming it shut behind her.

"Ahaha!" Tootie laughed loudly at how quickly her sister went from stoic to flustered. "Aha... I did say Timmy wasn't the only one who was cute!" The raven-haired girl wiped a tear from her eye as she turned on her heel back toward the pool, catching sight of the top of Timmy's head in the water.

 _Timmy and Tootie..._

"So, you're still alive I see." Tootie crouched down at the edge of the pool next to her brunet-haired friend and lightly tapped her index finger on the top of his head.

At this, the teen rose up a few inches out of the water so his mouth was no longer submerged. "Just barely..." Timmy rubbed his neck where Vicki's fingers had been gripping it. "I don't think getting strangled is one of my kinks, be it an intimate type of thing or otherwise..."

"She was strangling you?" Tootie asked quizzically. While it wasn't outside the realm of possibility, considering this _was_ Vicki, after all, she didn't quite believe her sister would put her hands on Timmy in such a threatening manner.

"Definitely thinking about it..." The brunet laid his head back to look up at Tootie, meeting her gaze with his own being upside-down. It was at that point that his brain remembered just _why_ he'd almost been strangled, and the person behind said reason was staring him in the face.

He turned around in the water to face his best friend properly, then extended his arm out of the pool, toward her. "Mind helping me outta here?"

"I don't see why no-Ah!" The girl cut off her own sentence with a scream as she grabbed Timmy's hand and met significant resistance, then force as she was pulled forward, off her feet and back into the water.

 _SPLOOSH_

Timmy chuckled as he watched Tootie sink down, then quickly swim back up and break the surface of the water, whereupon she gave him a rather dirty look after catching her breath. "How _do_ you always manage to keep your glasses on when you fall into the pool?"

"You're an ass." The raven-haired girl's expression changed from annoyed to something more akin to a pout as she swept her right arm through the water to splash the brunet.

"You deserved that one." The teen shot his friend a knowing look. "Next time, _you_ talk to Vicki about three-way stuff, I seriously thought she was going to kill me!"

"Oh please." Tootie shook her head dismissively. "She wasn't gonna kill you... Maybe hit you, or hold your head under the water for a few seconds, but kill you? Nah."

"Yes, I'm sure I'm just overreacting." Timmy deadpanned at the girl.

"Glad we're in agreement." Tootie smiled happily, knowing it would irk him even more. "And as for next time, don't worry, I intend to."

"E-excuse me?" The teen shot his- _"Girlfriend? Is Tootie my girlfriend now? ...And if this plan works... What would that make Vicki?"_ Shaking his head back and forth, Timmy refocused his attention on her. "What? Was _this_ part of your plan too? Getting Vicki pissed at me so-"

"No, my sister being mad at you is just a..." Tootie trailed off as she brought her hand up to her chin in thought. "...A minor setback! Yeah! I still know how to salvage this to make a Timmy-Tootie-Vicki sandwich, don't you worry!"

The brunet frowned at his friend, the expression being more disapproving than sad. "Once you start using food as sex analogies, I pretty much can't help _but_ worry..."

"Ugh, fine. Be a worrier and worry. _I'll_ take action, and then _we'll_ get some action!"

"Jeez, you _are_ horny today..." Timmy absently spoke as he looked over his shoulder back toward his house. To say he wasn't pleased with how his conversation with Vicki went was... An understatement. A few not very well-thought-out sentences had driven an obvious wedge between himself and the red-head, and his only hope of repairing it was Too-

"You _literally_ have no idea."

The brunet jumped slightly as he turned back toward Tootie on hearing her voice. In much the same way he hadn't noticed Vicki slip into the water and swim over to him, he didn't notice the raven-haired girl glide over to him, not until her face was mere inches from his, and her hands were on his shoulders, using him for support to stay above the water.

Timmy snaked his left arm around Tootie's waist and across the small of her back while his right stayed on the edge of the pool. Even with the water reducing the girl's weight to barely anything, her being as close as she was made kicking their legs difficult, so his right arm was pretty much the only thing keeping them from sinking.

Which was something he was sure Tootie would take immediate advantage of, as he certainly wasn't going to push her away, even if he _was_ able to.

"I mean, it's not like you haven't been _teasing_ me all day..." The girl's voice dipped low, taking on a more sultry tone as she slid her right hand off Timmy's shoulder, slowly moving it in a descending motion onto his chest.

"Eheh... Uhm... Tootie? Maybe we shouldn't..." The teen's eyes darted about in his head. It was doubtful that anyone was watching them, but...

"It's not like I'm mad or anything." She grinned evilly as her fingertips moved over his upper chest, lightly grazing his nipple as she savored the feeling of his somewhat toned chest.

"T-Tootie... Could we do this... Somewhere more private?" The teen's question nearly came out as a single word, his tone sounding almost pained... Or perhaps pleading.

Tootie continued, ignoring his request. "Nope. On the contrary, I've _really_ enjoyed today. Never knew you were so good with your _hands_..." Her own hand moved ever lower, now delicately tracing a path down Timmy's abdomen and past his navel.

Timmy again opened his mouth to speak-

"But y'know... I've been letting you have all the fun getting me worked up, yet I've done _nothing_ to... Repay you? That's a good way to put it." She nodded as her fingertips now reached the waistline of Timmy's swimsuit. "I've been _awfully_ selfish, don't ya think?" The evil grin remained as Tootie's violet eyes focused entirely on Timmy's blue ones.

And Timmy, much to his credit, _was_ able to keep up eye contact with Tootie, though his gaze was very steadily being drawn to the small space between them, where her hand was. "Uh... N-no, you haven't been self-" He paused, cutting himself off as Tootie's fingertips slid under his waistband. "-Ish? T-Tootie...?"

"it's only fair... You were rubbing me in _all_ the right places in your room... I just wanna return the favor..." She glanced at Timmy's arm as she felt it minutely tighten around her. "All you have to do is _relax_..." As she spoke, Tootie carefully slipped the rest of her hand into the brunet's bathing suit, and(almost eagerly) wrapped her fingers around his already hard member. "And here I was thinking I was the only person excited about tonight!"

"Ngh..." Timmy simply grunted out as he braced his hand on the edge of the pool. He hadn't quite expected Tootie to... Grasp him so eagerly. Her action had in turn caused his hips to buck forward slightly, further closing the distance between the two teens. "K-kinda _hard_ not to be excited when a pretty girl's got her fingers wrapped around your-Ah..." A red tint broke out over the teen's cheeks as he felt Tootie stroke her hand up and down the length of his penis. The blush was more caused by his unintentional gasp than the girl's action... But it certainly helped.

"Hehe..." Tootie chuckled lightly and began speaking in a more hushed tone. "I was worried you were one of those types who's quiet as a mouse when fooling around..." Another gentle stroke up and down. Judging by her _friend's_ reaction, she was evidently doing something right, but she didn't want to be too rough either. "I-Uh... I once heard that... If you're not into it, pain can be a _real_ turn-off in these... _Situations_ , so... If I'm- Er... Just... It's good, right?"

"Y-yeah... It's good, you're... Good." Aside from the fact that far more blood was heading south, rather than to his brain, Timmy was having just a bit of trouble focusing on such concepts as forming coherent sentences. Much of his attention was on what Tootie was doing to him, the carefulness of her motions, the softness of her hand...

And in turn, Tootie wasn't particularly focused on what Timmy had said, though she did hear the part where he said she was 'good'. Most of the raven-haired girl's attention was focused on the apparent _size_ of her friend's member. Though she didn't show it, she was relieved to find that it wasn't the size of... Some of the ones she'd seen on the more unscrupulous internet sites. _"Ugh, wish I had a damn ruler... Well... My fingers fit around it, so it isn't a damn tree trunk... And judging by the length..."_ "Seven inches."

"W-Wha?!" For the first time since his little... 'Massage' began, Timmy focused his attention back on Tootie, who had made a rather interesting declaration, though she did not cease her hand's movements.

It took less than a second after the words left her mouth for Tootie's eyes to grow wide and her face to turn beet-red. "I... That was supposed to... Be... Ishouldstoptalking." Reluctantly, the raven-haired girl released her prize and slid her hand back out of Timmy's bathing suit.

With her hands now back to fiddling with each other nervously, and Timmy not quite being sure of what he could possibly say, the two teens merely stayed where they were for a few minutes, the only sounds that broke the otherwise awkward silence being the pool filters and the occasional chirp of a bird.

"That was-" "I didn't mean-" Both spoke at the same time, and quickly fell silent again as they did.

"Y-you go ahead..." Tootie stammered out, her blush still as red and obvious as it had been a few minutes before. _"Shit... I hope... He doesn't think less of me for doing_ that _, right? I mean, we're alone out here and... And it's just there! He's been taunting me with the damn_ thing _all day!"_

"Er... I was just gonna say that was... Nice?" Timmy felt his cheeks heat up once again. Tootie complimenting him on his skill with his hands was one thing, but he hadn't... Gotten as far as she just had... _"Do you compliment someone for that? Feels... Weird..."_

"I- Um... You're welcome...?" She felt a significant portion of her confidence drain away. Yes, she was still super-horny, and _really_ wanted Timmy to grab her by the shoulders, reverse their positions, and thrust- She wanted _that_ , but also felt... A little nervous? "You... _We_ could, eheh... Keep going...?" _"_ _C'mon, think! Salvage this somehow!"_ Tootie leaned closer, enough so that she was now pressing herself flush against the brunet. She could feel his heart rate speed up a little... And a certain throbbing somewhere _else_ too. "Wanna see how long I can hold my breath?" The girl quirked an eyebrow up at Timmy suggestively, hoping he'd pick up on the hint she'd dropped.

"Hold your breath?" The teen looked at the girl quizzically. _"That's kind of a switch... Why bring that up when we were just...?"_ Timmy stared at his friend for a few seconds, then raised an interested eyebrow himself as she licked her lips. _"What is she...? Oh."_ It didn't take long for the more perverted part of Timmy's mind to put the pieces together, and realize just _what_ Tootie was offering. "I- Um- W-we should probably head inside, see what V-Vicki's up to...?"

"Heh... So a rain check then?" Tootie spoke in a husky tone, her eyes half-lidded.

"Er... Yes? If that's... Okay?" He stuttered out, clearly not expecting Tootie's rather naughty offer.

"Sure." The raven-haired girl shrugged nonchalantly, then leaned in and gave the boy a quick peck on the lips. "Suppose longing makes the heart grow fonder... Among _other_ things. And in your room, I won't have to focus on holding my breath. I can focus entirely on making you feel good!" She winked as she finished, at last shrugging out of Timmy's grasp and pushing herself away.

"R-Right, heheh... Right." The brunet spun around, intending to pull himself up and out of the pool, but this idea was soon put on hold as he felt Tootie loop her arms over his shoulders and around his neck, and her legs around his waist. "What are you doing?" Timmy asked tiredly.

"Hm? Hitching a ride from my boyfriend!" She leaned in, planting another quick kiss on Timmy's cheek. "C'mon, you can do it! I'm like, a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. I have faith!" Tootie giggled as she rested her head on Timmy's shoulder.

"And what's in it for me if I give you a piggyback?" Even as he asked, the teen still began pulling himself up out of the water, with only a bit of difficulty.

"Hey, what about chivalry? Just doing what's right for your fair maiden?" Tootie asked in a mockingly offended tone.

"Heheh... 'Fair'..." Timmy chuckled as he climbed out of the pool, Tootie's arms and legs still wrapped tightly around him. "Phew... Hold on, let me get a better grip."

"A better wha-!" The bespectacled girl jumped slightly as she felt Timmy's hands settle on her ass, one hand for each buttock. "Aren't you supposed to grab my thighs? Or just above my knees at least?"

Ignoring her deadpan tone, the brunet leaned forward a bit to center himself and the girl on his back. "Nah, this feels fine."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure it _feels_ great. Pervert."

"Hey, be nice or I will give you such a spanking young lady!" He teased as he carefully made his way over to the door, stopping as he felt Tootie's weight shift again, followed by a warm breath on his ear.

"You promise...?" Tootie grinned as she felt a light shudder run through her best friend. "Heehee! So anyway, how'd you like that 'view of the valley' from Vicki, huh Timmy?"

"What now? 'View' of the...? What _are_ you talking about?" Timmy remained stopped in the middle of the back yard, his head turned to the right to try and see Tootie.

"Hah! Please, I got _quite_ the eyeful when she was talking to me, and I wasn't as... Close as you two were, so fess up! You get a good look?" The raven-haired girl found herself wondering why Timmy was still playing dumb. He was on board, and he _knew_ she didn't mind if he looked at Vicki... So why act like he was still clueless?

"A good look at what?" The teen adjusted his grip(or copped a feel, take your pick) as he felt Tootie begin to slide off his back. "I was kinda in the middle of getting strangled, the only thing I was focused on was escaping, and Vicki's eyes." A distinctly more fearful shudder ran through his body. "I think I could feel her judging my soul..." Timmy hung his head sadly, remembering that the red-head was probably still pissed at him.

"Ugh... Again with the missed opportunities..." Tootie rolled her eyes and slid her arms back a little, letting her hands settle on Timmy's shoulders again. "Turn around. About face." The girl gripped his shoulders, directing the brunet to turn back toward the pool.

"I'm _not_ your faithful steed!"

"Eh, I still wanna ride you like one." Tootie chuckled as Timmy nonetheless obeyed her directive and turned to face the pool again. "See that?" She leaned forward and pointed toward the pool with her right arm, the left holding onto Timmy for leverage while she pressed her breasts against the back of his neck.

"See... What?" He followed her arm in the direction she was pointing, but all he saw was the pool, and the apparently forgotten float. "Oh, I should probably get that out of there."

"Not the pool float!" Tootie facepalmed with her free hand. "The thing _on_ the float! No wonder Vicki thinks you're a Twerp..."

"I am fully capable of throwing your sweet ass back into the pool, Toots." Timmy spoke in a mock-annoyed tone as he squinted at the pool float, now realizing there was a small article of clothing on it. "Is that-"

"My sister's bikini top? Well, considering I got a good look at her _not_ bikini top-clad chest, I'd have to go with... Yeah." Giving Timmy's sides a gentle squeeze with her legs to indicate she wanted to get down, Tootie slid off the teen's back and onto her feet as he released her, then made her way over to the side of the pool, grabbing one of the sifting nets as she did. "Sounds like _someone_ missed out!"

" _Was she naked from the waist up the entire time she was not-strangling me? And I didn't even notice?"_ Timmy felt the sudden urge to slap himself across the face. Even with his vow to stop thinking things to death, he was still missing out! "Well I- It's probably for the best. If she'd caught me staring while she was chewing me out, chances are she really _would_ have drowned me-" The teen's train of thought was derailed as he stared at Tootie... Or rather, a certain part of her anatomy that was not-so-stealthily pointed in his direction. The girl was again bent over in an alluring manner as she used the sifting net to pull the pool float holding Vicki's bikini top over to her. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" He could feel a certain tightness returning to his bathing suit.

"Little bit." Tootie spoke in an amused tone of voice. "Gotta make you pay for getting me worked up _somehow_." She peeked over her shoulder as she finished, her eyebrow raised suggestively.

Timmy crossed his arms and blushed. He could feel his better judgment crumbling and giving way to... More pleasurable thoughts. And Tootie's pose and tone weren't helping matter in the least. "J-Just hurry up and grab her top!" Difficult as it was, he was able to turn away from the girl and back toward the house. Tootie may have been torturing him in her own way, but he was just as bad, being unable to take his eyes off her butt!

"Oh chill, I got it." At last, Tootie set aside the net and pulled the pool float out of the water, setting it down at the edge as she grabbed the lime-green prize she was after. "Now then..." In one swift motion, the raven-haired girl jumped to her feet, spinning around to face Timmy as she did, then quickly made her way over to him and leapt into her previous position on his back. "Giddy up!"

"Really?" The brunet deadpanned, yet still managed to catch her, his hands again finding their favored position on her rear-end. "You _do_ have legs, you know that, right?"

"Yup! Nice, soft legs that are currently wrapped around your waist, so why exactly are you complaining?" Tootie leaned forward again, her head coming to rest on his shoulder, which made Timmy lean forward in turn to center himself.

"Because they _work_!" The brunet shouted in amusement. "Is this what I have to look forward to now that we're..."

"Dating?"

A mild wave of heat washed over Timmy at the girl's words. _"I guess we're dating now... Though we might end up skipping dinner and a movie and going straight to-"_

"Think of it as training! You carry me around now, you'll be able to hold me up against a wall _later_..." The raven-haired girl finished by purring into the teen's ear.

Could women go into heat like some animals? Timmy found himself wondering this as he stepped across his backyard and over to the door, then let himself and Tootie back into the house, ducking to keep her from bonking her head. "You uh..." He began with a whisper as he stopped in the kitchen, his eyes focusing on the door into the living room. "You still haven't told me how we're gonna... Fix this?"

"Mm..." Tootie hummed in his ear, smirking as he shuddered from the ticklish feeling. "Still trying to figure that part out..." She frowned as she heard the boy beneath her release an exasperated-sounding sigh. "...Hey, I- I'm sorry about not coming with you, okay? I know that was probably... Stressful, asking her something like that, and dealing with her reaction." Tootie nuzzled her cheek against Timmy's, hoping to reassure and comfort him. "But I wasn't... I didn't really know how to... Bring it up, I guess? This is... I mean, it's a pretty big deal, y'know?"

"Don't have to tell me twice..." The brunet nodded in agreement with his best friend-turned-girlfriend. "Maybe I could... Take off? Just for a bit, and you two could talk? Might give her a chance to-"

"Cool off? Yeah... I think- I think that might work!" Tootie; apparently having forgotten that they were supposed to be trying to be stealthy, exclaimed excitedly as her plan received a jump-start. "Oh, but... You just got changed into your bathing suit, sure you don't mind getting dressed again? ...You might have to change _back_ into it when you return...?" An evil glint appeared in the teenage girl's eye as she placed a quick kiss on Timmy's shoulder. "Or you could just _not_ put it back on... That'd work too."

" _I can't believe I'm attracted to two girls who_ both _love to torture me!"_ The brunet mentally screamed as Tootie's words sent chills down his spine. "You wanna get down so we can-"

"Nope! I'm pretty comfortable right here." Tootie remarked with a smile as her faithful steed carried her into the living room.


End file.
